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CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

FINE ARTS LIBRARY

>• ,«»^ ^Cornell University Library
N 6921.B69R14

The women artists of Bologna /

3 1924 020 692 624

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tine Cornell University Library.

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THE WOMEN ARTISTS
OF BOLOGNA

THE APPEARANCE OF THE mPANT CHRIST TO S. ANTHONY OF PADUA

PINACOTECA, DOLOGNA. SALA Dl GUIDO

THE WOMEN ARTISTS
OF BOLOGNA

LAURA M. RAGG

MBDALLIST OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY igoo

WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS

METHUEN & CO.

36 ESSEX STREET W.C.

LONDON

First Published in igof

TO
MY HUSBAND

LONSDALE RAGG

IN MEMORY

OF MANY PEACEFUL HOURS

SPENT TOGETHER IN THE LIBRARIES

OF BOLOGNA

CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction .

PAGE

CATERINA DEI VIGRI

THE NUN
1413-1463
Santa Caterina da Bologna .
I. Caterina's Childhood
II. Caterina at the Court of Ferrara

III. Caterina's Noviciate .

IV. Caterina the professed "Clarissa"
V. The New Colony

VI. The Death of the Righteous .
VII. Caterina's Post-mortem History
VIII. Caterina the Artist .

Authorities .
Appendix A .
Appendix B .

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI
THE SCULPTOR
1500 (?)-iS30
Propbrzia db' Rossi

Authoritibs . . . .
Appendix . . . .
vii

13
24
46
67
103
126

136
ISO

158
160
163

167
187
188

X THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

PAGE

The Meeting of Emperor Charles V with Pope Cle-
ment VII IN Bologna, 1529 184

Detail of picture by Marco Vecellio in the Hall of the Council
of Ten, Ducal Palace, Venice

Portrait of Lavinia Fontana painted by herself . . 193
UfEzi Gallery, Florence
From a Photograph by Signor G. Brogi^ Florence

The Gozzadini Family 208

Gozzadini Palace, Via Santo Stephano, Bologna
From a Photograph hy Signore Ramhaldi

The Infant Francis I of France, presented by his Mother,
Louise de Savoie, for the Blessing of S. Francesco di
Paola 214

Pinacoteca, Bologna. Sala del Tiarini

From a Photograph by Signor P, Poppi, Bologna

Portrait of Elisabetta Sirani painted by Herself . . 229
Pinacoteca, Bologna
From a Photograph by Signor P. Poppi^ Bologna

Caricature of the Old Man Riali 274

From a tracing made by the author of the copy preserved
with the MS. of the Processo in the Archivio di Stato,
Bologna

The Baptism of Christ 294

The Certosa, Bologna

From a Photograph by Signor P^ Poppi, Bologna

The Christ-Child on the Globe 296

Pinacoteca, Bologna

From a Photograph by Signor P. Poppi^ Bologna

The Conversion of St. Eustache 304

From an engraving in the possession of the author

Map of Bologna At End

PREFACE

THIS book came into being almost against the will
of its author. Other work had been conceived and
was taking shape, when Fate decreed a long residence
in Italy, and then making her commands more definite,
unexpectedly enjoined an eight months' sojourn in
Bologna. There the libraries and the environment
offered but scant encouragement for a study of Napo-
leonic France, while the opportunity of learning some-
thing of the history of one of the most interesting and
less known of Italian cities was too precious to be neg-
lected. Desultory reading in the Archiginnasio was
begun, and then ceased to be desultory. By degrees
facts were strung on golden threads of biography :
soon the distinction and achievements of Bologna's
women were noted as a characteristic of the city's his-
tory. Eager inquiries elicited the ignorance of the
cultured many, and the very partial knowledge of the
learned few. Curiosity was piqued ; the obscurity of
the subject enhanced its fascination ; its elusiveness in-
creased the ardour of pursuit. Little by little the con-
viction gained ground that the lives of the women
artists and the bas bleus of Bologna might well be
brought before the notice of English readers.

xii THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

That the task has been accomplished, however un-
satisfactorily, is largely due to the encouragement and
help of friends and counsellors to whom the author
would take this opportunity of returning heart-felt
thanks. Chief among these are : the sisters of the
Convent of Corpus Domini in Bologna ; the illustrious
Corrado Ricci and Ispettore Ferri in Florence ; Cav.
Livi, head of the Archivio in Bologna; Professor Albano
Sorbelli and his colleagues in the Archiginnasio ; Dottori
Ludovico Frati of the University Library; and Herr
Frank, the genial Padrone of the Hotel Brun.

L. M. R,

Bblluno, December, igo6

THE WOMEN ARTISTS
OF BOLOGNA

INTRODUCTION

FROM the days of the shadowy precursors of
Accursius down to the modern times of Carducci,
Trombetti, and Marconi, Bologna has shown herself
the mother and nurse of genius. Nor has she reserved
her maternal tenderness exclusively for her male nurs-
lings. No city in the world has produced more women
of distinguished talent ; none has been more prompt
to further their achievements, more generous in crown-
ing their success. We are not speaking, moreover,
of ladies of exalted birth and exceptional opportunity,
such as those who graced many of the Italian courts
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and who, be-
trothed in childhood, owed alike their unusual educa-
tion and their subsequent influence to their husbands'
power and position; but of women belonging to obscure
and sometimes to poor families, who achieved a name
and fame by their own exertions, before or independ-
ently of marriage.

2 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Conspicuous among these are the women directly
connected with the University. In the fourteenth cen-
tury there is the romantic figure of Novella Andrea,
outlined for us, alas ! as vaguely as for her students,
from whom, on account of her perturbing personal
attractions, she was screened while lecturing by a
curtain ; while towards the end of the eighteenth and
beginning of the nineteenth century we meet three
deeply-learned ladies crowned with every possible Uni-
versity distinction — Laura Bassi, Clotilda Tambroni,
and Anna Morandi. Next to this triad of bos bleus,
and between them and the veiled lecturer in point of
time, are several ladies remarkable for culture and
philanthropy, while the four artists whose lives are
sketched in these pages form a third category of dis-
tinguished Bolognese women.

Every biography is like a coin with two faces. The
one is stamped with an image and superscription, the
other with a coat-of-arms, a device, an allegory. The
one relates to the individual, the other to his environ-
ment Sometimes the obverse, sometimes the reverse
is the clearer and more interesting. Sometimes both
are blurred, and can be deciphered only by comparison
with other coins of the period.

In the first of these four sketches the personal interest
predominates. The likeness of the woman is clear : her
surroundings are misty and undetermined. She was
a cloistered nun, who saw the world without only per-
speculum in enigmate, as the Lady of Shalott saw the life
and stir and pomp and toil of the high road to Arthur's

INTRODUCTION 3

capital — but without observing it so closely. Her book
of religious instructions, with its innumerable fine auto-
biographical touches, gives us a picture not of the times,
but of the inner, nay the inmost, life of a fifteenth-
century religious. It takes us into the secret places
of a soul, and we know the " Santa " of Bologna as we
know few of our friends — perhaps as we only now and
then know ourselves. And while her own writings
make us see her from her own standpoint, the memoir
written by her loved companion, Suor lUuminata Bembo,
enables us to view her from without, critically, at the
distance from which we contemplate our acquaintance.
We recognize that she was a nun first, by natural fit-
ness, by heart-whole profession, and only secondarily
a painter ; but the artistic level to which, even under
these conditions, she attained, her administrative ability
— often only another manifestation of creative talent —
her faculties of observation, shown in her knowledge of
character and the tactful management of her nuns, her
faculty of expression in words, and her generally culti-
vated mind, may well lead us to believe that under
other circumstances, in another age, Caterina dei Vigri
would have been a greater artist than any of her three
successors.

In the life of the sculptress, Properzia dei Rossi, it is
the picturesque and external aspect of biography which
predominates. In spite of the bas-relief in the Museum
of S. Petronio, which is said to be the revelation and the
monument of her love and her despair, we never really

4 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

come close to her. But the story of her unhappy passion,
the superficial classicality and intense individualism of
her work ; the boldness, the graceful self-possession, the
lack of self-consciousness with which she ventures into
paths hitherto untrodden by her sex ; the spontaneous
and unstinted appreciation of her fellow-citizens — all
are typical and redolent of the age to which she belonged.
Her death, too, is inextricably associated with one of
the most picturesque and eventful episodes in the history
of Bologna — the coronation of the Emperor Charles V
by the Pope Clement VII.

The period between the death of Caterina dei Vigri
and the childhood of Properzia dei Rossi coincided with
the brilliant but insecure rule of Giovanni Bentivoglio II,
whose life has somehow escaped the attention which Eng-
lishmen have bestowed so abundantly on other Italian
tyrants. That rule ended in 1506, and the gorgeous
ceremony in S. Petronio in the year 1 530 seemed the out-
ward visible sign of Bologna's willing submission to the
papal government — a government which lasted from that
time onwards to the day when the city became part of
the " Kingdom of Italy " as the " Department of the
Reno." It was the signal also of the advancing wave
of the Catholic reaction, destined before long to sweep
away all the aspirations and tendencies and many of
the achievements of the period which had produced and
inspired a Properzia dei Rossi.

By the time Lavinia Fontana had begun to paint, the
pendulum had swung backwards to its limit The child-

INTRODUCTION S

like spirit of fearless curiosity, which was the peculiar
charm and peril of the men and women of the renais-
sance, had been chastened into conventional correctness.
Orthodoxy triumphed all along the line — making its
own even the pagan culture and worship of antiquity
which had consumed an earlier generation, everywhere
erecting sign-posts and fences for the guidance and
restraint of the human spirit, and, to some extent,
strengthening and restoring the moral boundaries over-
thrown by the intense desire for self-realization and self-
development.

Three events which occurred during Lavinia's life-
time, and within the range of her immediate cognizance,
give us the measure of the social conditions of her day.
They were: (i) The execution of Giordano Bruno as
a heretic (1600); (2) the death of Tasso in the
Convent of St. Onofrio in Rome (1597), a weary, dis-
appointed craven, fearful lest the Holy OflSce should
censure his Gerusalumme Liberata; (3) the publication
and enormous success of Marini's "Adonis." Scientific
inquiry and free discussion are prohibited ; true poetry
is suffocated in an atmosphere from which the oxygen
of the renaissance has been exhausted ; and as a sub-
stitute for it Italian society is supplied with a souffli of
preposterous metaphors and frothy hyperboles creamy
with facile imagination, unsalted by genius, devoid of
a particle of spiritual nourishment, but served with a
sauce of piquant lasciviousness.

Lavinia Fontana's life and works reflect for good and
evil, the evil and good of her day. An excellent

6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

daughter, wife and mother, exemplary and regular in
conduct, tranquil, popular, and prosperous, she is a com-
plete and significant contrast to the brilliant, beautiful
Properzia, with her tragic, shamelessly proclaimed
passions, and her miserable, untimely death.

As an artist Lavinia was successful in her day, and
remains admirable, chiefly because of her limitations,
and the good sense which made her recognize them.
Portrait painting does not demand — and perhaps cannot
express — the very highest gifts of imagination, while
it gives unlimited scope to technical skill and the colour
sense. When Lavinia accepted commissions for religious
or historical pictures, she remained a portrait painter. Her
well-known picture in the gallery of Bologna, represent-
ing S. Francesco di Paolo blessing the infant Francis I
of France, is merely an interesting and highly decorative
portrait group. More historical imagination is shown in
the " Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes " in the
church of S. Maria della Pieta ; but while all Properzia's
pseudo-classicism of treatment has disappeared, and
the old forms of religious art have been restored, the
breath of life no longer animates them. Lavinia's
Madonnas do not inspire, and were not inspired by
devotion.

In the days of Elisabetta Sirani we see the received
types growing more stereotyped, while a certain mere-
tricious sentimentality differentiates them strangely
from their Quattrocento prototypes. This sentiment-
ality, artificial though it be, is the genuine expression

INTRODUCTION 7

of the Zeitgeist of the seventeenth century, and has its
counterpart in the dress, the furniture, the manners of
the period. It is sufficiently marked in the work of
Guido Reni, the master of Elisabetta's father and her
own exemplar, and is still more accentuated in her
sweet-faced Virgins and graceful Holy Families.

Her story is full both of personal and social interest.
It exhibits most picturesquely the conditions of domestic
service, the medical ignorance, the legal procedure, the
pompous funeral ceremonies of the time, while its
central feature is that horrible characteristic of the
Seicento, the prevalence and constant dread of secret
poisoning.

The trial of the maidservant who was supposed to be
the instrument of Elisabetta's death is as much with-
in the MS. of the Processo in the Archivio of Bologna
"and nowhere out of it,", as the trial of Pompilia's
murderers was in that " square old yellow book " which
Browning picked up for a lira from a stall in the square of
San Lorenzo. There we find the deposition of witnesses
— made in no open court, but taken down separately
and privately by the Sub- Auditor of the Torrone; there,
too, are the pleadings of the lawyers, the Sirani's friend
Bianchini, counsel for the prosecution, and Niccolo de
Lemmi, acting for the Committee for the Defence of the
Poor. And these interrogatorii and these orations give
us not only a clear understanding of the conduct of
a criminal case in the seventeenth century, but also a
strangely intimate knowledge of Elisabetta's rather
dreary working life, and of her last hideous sufferings.

8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

She was younger than Properzia dei Rossi when she
died, having only attained the age of twenty-seven ;
but in a short time truly she had fulfilled a long time.
Her own, by no means exhaustive, catalogue of finished
work reveals an almost incredible amount of activity
and accomplishment.

CATERINA DEI VIGRI

THE NUN

(SANTA CATERINA DA BOLOGNA)

b. 1413. d. 1463.

THE FIGURE OF THE SANTA SEATED IN HER CHAPEL

CHUKCH or CORPUS DOMINI, BOLOGNA

SANTA CATERINA DA BOLOGNA

THE enormous quadrangle of blank brick wall,
representing to the world outside it the Convent
of Corpus Domini in Bologna, is broken in the Via
Tagliapietre by a portal of singular beauty. This lovely
door with its terra-cotta mouldings, the work of the
medallist Sperandio, is all that remains of the original^
outer church, which, less than twenty years after her
death, the pious Bolognese erected in memory of the
first abbess. The fifteenth-century portal gives access
to a barocco temple, well proportioned and richly
decorated, which is, however, only the ante-chamber to
a small cell, entered from the second chapel on the left.
In this cell beneath a gorgeous canopy the " Santa " sits
enthroned, to receive the homage of the faithful.

The body is unsupported ; the posture is natural ;
the skin on hands and feet and face is perfect, uncor-
rupted, it is said flexible. Yet no grinning skeleton or
ghostly corpse could be more unlifelike than this small
erect figure, whose discoloured wizened face is thrown
into hideous relief by the splendour of silk and gems
and cloth of gold. A splendid diadem glitters above
the black veil ; the brown habit of the Poor Clare is
replaced by a regal mantle ; there is a written notice in

' Built in 1481 by the architects Marchione da Faenza and Baitolomeo
da Dozza.

12 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the cell that priests are permitted to kiss the Santa's
hands.

That the woman who yearned for strict seclusion and
shunned observation, who in early youth fled from the
pomps and vanities of a court, and who loved poverty
as whole-heartedly as her master St. Francis — that
this humble, sensitive, reserved gentlewoman should be
thus arrayed in garish splendour, and exposed to the
gaze of the curious, seems the irony of a satiric fate.

We turn with relief to the relics disposed on the walls
of the cell. There, in a locked glass case, is one of the
many breviaries copied and illuminated by the Saint,
for the use of the community. There hangs a picture,
unsigned, but attributed by constant tradition to
Caterina, the lovely Madonna of the Apple. There,
most interesting of all, is the little viol on which the
dying Abbess played to the wonder and admiration of
her flock. With these objects, not the bedizened husk
of her gracious spirit, in our minds, let us try to trace
the history of this gentle follower of St. Francis, who,
long before her canonization, was to Bologna what
Anthony was to Padua, — The Saint,

CHAPTER I

CATERINA'S CHILDHOOD

A child most infantine,
Yet wandering far beyond that innocent age
In all but its sweet looks and mien divine ;
Even then, methought, with the world's tyrant rage
A patient warfare thy young heart did wage.

Shellev, Revolt of Islam

"/^^ATERINA 'poverella,' Bolognese, that is in
v_^ Bologna begotten, born and bred, and in Ferrara
by Christ espoused." Thus Caterina dei Vigri, as
though foreseeing the subsequent competition between
Ferrara and Bologna for the possession of a new saint,
defined with legal precision her position in respect to
both cities.

She died in the city where she first saw the light, and,
though professed in Ferrara, her life as abbess was
passed in Bologna. The Ferrarese had, however, this
much in their favour — the Vigri family was wholly
theirs. Girolamo Baruffaldi, an industrious Ferrarese
writer of the eighteenth century, gives the family tree
as follows : —

«3

14 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Vigrio, lived in Ferrara in 1307.
Ventura.

Zaccaro Capitano.
Nascimpace, Doctor of Law.
Bonaventura.

Count Alberto. Giovanni, Doctor of Law.

Died 1470 ; buried in church Died 1426.

of Ognisanti Ferrara, in the I

chapel of St. Ives. His des- Santa Caterina da Bologna,
cendants became extinct in
1619.

The family was certainly an honourable one. Some
authorities declare that it was connected with the
ruling house of Este, while Caterina's friend, successor,
and biographer, Illuminata Bembo — herself a Venetian
patrician — naively informs us that the Vigri were
" visited by all people of consequence in Ferrara," and
that Giovanni was " a man of substance and came of a
good house, nor had he ever exercised any trade (arte)
nor knew how to do so, but was a good scholar, and
a doctor, and many important offices were given to
him."

It is unfortunate that Sister Illuminata does not tell
us where the father of her friend studied and took his
degree. In the eighteenth century, at the time of her
formal beatification, the good citizens of Ferrara main-
tained with much plausibility that if " La Santa's ''
family were Ferrarese she herself could not be Bolognese.^

' "Memorie della Lite e Pretensione de Ferraresi che la nostra B.
Caterina da Bologna si dovesse chiamare da Ferrara. Unpublished MS.
Archivio Arcivescovile, Bologna."

CATERINA'S CHILDHOOD 15

"For," said their advocates, "when embassies and affairs
of state take men with their families for many years
away from their native country, it must needs happen
that they have children born in foreign parts," but these
children belong legally "not to the country of their
birth, but to that of their family." To this the lawyers
of Bologna answered that Doctor Giovanni dei Vigri
having taken his degree in civil law in Bologna became
according to the law of the city a Bolognese citizen.
A Bolognese citizen, he married a Bolognese lady, and
of this marriage Caterina was born — a Bolognese.

The fundamental assertion of the Bolognese lawyers
cannot now be verified, the University registers for the
opening years of the fifteenth century having been
destroyed by fire. But the fact that Giovanni dei Vigri
took his degree in Bologna never seems to have been
disputed by the Ferrarese, though they may have scorned
the inferences drawn from it ; and it is unhesitatingly
accepted by the Jesuit Father Grassetti, who, in 1653,
wrote what may be called the authorized life of the
Saint.

Nothing, indeed, could have been more natural than
that a Ferrarese youth of parts, with a distinguished
lawyer for his grandfather and an elder brother destined
for a military career, should have been sent to study
law in the famous neighbouring University of Bologna,
nor could a youth of character and parts intending to
serve his country as a diplomat have had a better train-
ing than that afforded by the life of a medieval student.

It was a many-tinted, eventful existence, demanding
and enforcing self-reliance, courage, and address, and
ensuring an acquaintance with many foreign tongues

i6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

and modes of thought. At an age when a modern boy-
is surrounded by teachers and governors at school, the
fifteenth-century undergraduate selected his own teach-
ers, course of study, and lodging, making his own
contract with his host, and living practically without
control. In Bologna the bell of S. Petronio summoned
the students every morning to common worship, after
which they went their several ways to the private
houses or class-rooms {scuole) of their chosen teachers,
who lectured between nine a.m. and midday and between
three p.m. and six, for at least one hour at a time. Gio-
vanni dei Vigri being a student of civil law would have
directed his steps to the legal quarter of the city, the
district in the neighbourhood of Via S. Mammolo (now
Via d' Azeglio). In the scuole he would have mingled
with boys of all nations, kindreds, and tongues — stu-
dents from England, Germany, and France, from Spain
and Portugal, from Sclavonia and the Indies, and from
every part of Italy — a cosrriopolitan audience which was
not always patient or courteous.

Even in the seventeenth century, when the University
organization was more centralized and defined, we learn
from the letter^ of a Bohemian student that the lecture-
room of an unpopular teacher was the scene of out-
rageous disorder. " When a doctor does not please in
his lecture," wrote the young Bohemian, "they clap
their hands and stamp their feet in order to compel him
to quit the chair. Swords on such occasions are some-

' Martin Horky to Kepler. Published by A. Favaro. Atii e Memorie
Dep. Storia Pairia, per le Prov. di Rom. Vol. X. Further he declares :
"Vita dissoluta. Fui Bononiae per sexannos lunares, gladios vagina
vacuos magis quam millies vidi."

A LECTURER AND SCHOLARS IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY BOLOGNA

FROM A FIFTEENTH CENTURY MANUSCRIi'T

CATERINA'S CHILDHOOD 17

times drawn. Vidi et saepe video." Sometimes un-
popular teachers were attacked in other ways. In 1414,
for example, Doctor Jacopo dei Vinidani was insulted
by a law-student of Lucca, who placarded libels against
him in two diiiferent places in the city. More frequently
still they were robbed, the objects stolen being gene-
rally books.^ It is fair to the offenders to remember
that the poor scholar could seldom afford books of his
own, and was terribly hindered by the lack of them.
Sometimes he stipulated with his host for the use of a
very limited library together with board and lodging ;
sometimes he borrowed at a fixed rate from stationers
and lecturers — practices affording ample scope for biblio-
philic dishonesty. He suffered also from lack of privacy.
Frequently he shared his mean room with a student as
poor as himself, and used the streets as his study and
parlour ; so that a modern Bolognese writer ^ believes
that the existence of the porticoes which are such char-
acteristic features of Bologna and Padua may be largely
attributed to " the immense number of scholars who
were obliged to pass great part of the day and evening
in the streets," and for whom a shelter from winter
storms and summer sun was imperative. Such a prac-
tice, given the extreme youth of the students and the
mixture of nationalities, was of course not favourable to
the quiet and order of the city. Brawls and quarrels,
often ending in bloodshed,^ were of frequent occurrence

' The records of the actions for theft are interesting in that they furnish
us with the names and values of the books used by the teachers of the day
and coveted by their scholars.

^ L. Frati, Vtia Privata di Bologna.

' The quarrel was sometimes carried into the lecture-room. Giovanni
dei Vigri was probably a " fresher " at Bologna when a Genoese, by name

i8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

among these "Cervelli turbidi ed ingegni storti," as a
chronicler of the fifteenth century calls the undergradu-
ates of his own and Giovanni's day.

No student could be a candidate for the laurea
dottorale till he had completed the twentieth year of
his age and an eight years course of study ; nor, we
may add, unless he were what Illuminata Bembo ex-
plicitly affirms Giovanni to have been — " a man of sub-
stance."

The closing act of the scholar's career was performed
with costly pomp and circumstance. In the case of a
youth of good family belonging to the city it was cele-
brated like the coming of age of a modern son and heir.
Thus when Taddeo Pepoli took his doctor's degree, his
father, Romeo, presented all the city guilds with sump-
tuous liveries, and kept open house to the entire popu-
lace of Bologna. Humbler or iqore obscure individuals
entertained in a less extensive but sufficiently liberal
manner ; the newly-made doctor being expected to
provide a banquet for the troop of comrades* and well-
wishers who accompanied him from the cathedral, where
the degree was conferred, back to his own house. Be-
sides these supplementary expenses there were various
fixed dues and unfixed " tips " ; fees to the Archdeacon,
Vicar, and notaries ; payments to beadles, bell-ringers,
and musicians ; oblations of wine and sweetmeats to

Gabriele Giustiniani, was assaulted during lecture by a scholar from Lucca,
who entered the scuola with a knife, and would have killed his man,
had not the other students rallied to his defence.

^ On the way to the cathedral the student was accompanied by his
relatives and by "not more than ten" of his fellow-students, together with
the two doctors who presented him to the Archdeacon and certified that
they had examined him privately and were satisfied as to his capacity.

CATERINA'S CHILDHOOD 19

the Archdeacon ; of a ring, cap, and pair of gloves to
the Prior, and of eight " braccia " of fine cloth to each
of the " presentors."

There is a tradition, made use of by the Bolognese
lawyers in 1704, that Giovanni dei Vigri, after re-
ceiving his doctor's degree, remained in Bologna as a
lecturer. The tradition is not disproved by the absence
of his name from the lists^ of professors of the studio
receiving stipends from the commune ; for on the one
hand the lists are imperfect, and on the other there were
many teachers outside them whose payment was a
matter of private contract between themselves and their
scholars. It is, moreover, supported by the fact of his
marriage with a Bolognese lady of good family, whose
attractions may well have increased the disinclination
felt by many a graduate since Giovanni's time to leave
a spot endeared by countless romantic and intellectual
associations.

We unfortunately know nothing of the wooing and
wedding of this lady, who bore the sweet Italian name
of Benvenuta^ — a name surely full of suggestiveness to
a lover's ear. She came of the family of Mamolini,
who in the year 1465 certainly possessed houses^ in the
Via dei Toschi, and who were presumably there fifty
years previously. One of these houses, recently de-
stroyed to make room for the new General Post Office,
was marked by a tablet declaring it to be the birthplace
of Santa Caterina da Bologna ; but the Bolognese tra-
dition that this house was her home till her eleventh
year cannot be proved or disproved by documentary

' Mandati di Pagamenti. Archiv. di Bologna.
" See Guidicini, 1463. Via dei Toschi.

20 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

evidence. The wording of Caterina's auto-description,
"in Bologna acquistata nata ed allevata," appears to
favour the Bolognese pretensions, but allevata may only
mean that she remained in Bologna till she was weaned ;
and the Ferrarese maintain that Benvenuta merely
went to her parents' home for her confinement.

On one point all authorities are agreed — namely, that
Giovanni was at Padua, on the business of his master,
the Marchese Niccolo, when Caterina came into the
world. This fact afforded scope for the introduction of
one of the supernatural incidents indispensable to the
infancy of a child destined to attain sanctity, or even
conspicuous mundane celebrity. The absent Giovanni's
thoughts continually turned homewards to the wife he
had left enceinte and the child who was coming ; till at
length on the night of September the seventh, he
dreamed that Benvenuta was safely delivered of a
daughter, and that she was destined to be no common
child. Little by little this most natural vision of a
young father was improved on, till at length Caterina's
birth was said to have been announced by the Virgin
Mother herself, who declared that the newly-born infant
would be "a clear light to the world." In a curious
hymn in Caterina's honour, printed less than forty years
after her death, we see the legend growing : —

Quando nascisti virgine beata
il padre tuo a padua era andato
la tua nativita li fu annunciata
per visione e per divino trovato
dicto li fu che fosse ritornata
a la sua patria che tropo era stato
per questo ritorno poi lui a bologna

CATERINA'S CHILDHOOD 21

quello che dicto li fu non fu menzogna.
Non so cht annunciAsse quesii al padre.
Credo chefusse la divina madre}

Another of the hymns puts the incident more briefly
and adds a fresh touch.

Trovo che a padoa fusti revelata
Dafeminil race a tuo par dicendo
Va a bologna chuna putta te nata.^

The new-born infant's placid disposition and low
vitality furnished in retrospect additional indications
of the Divine calling and election. To quote again
from the quaint hymn in her honour. The father on
his return from Padua— r

Ritrovo nato quello olente fiore

Che per tre zorni lacte non gustava

nutrita alia era del divino amore

e come agnello mansueta stava

non piangeva ne monstrava alchun dolore

tanta al^greza Deo nel core li dava.^

^ When thou wast born, blessed virgin,

Thy father to Padua had gone.

Thy birth to him was announced

By vision and divine discovery ;

It was told him he must needs return

Unto his country, that too long he had tarried.

Therefore returned he forthwith to Bologna.

That which had been told him was no lie ;

I know not who announced this to the father,

But I believe it must have been the Divine Mother.
" I find that at Padua thou wast revealed

By feminine voice to thy father, saying,

Go to Bologna for a baby-girl is born to thee.
' Found born that fragrant flower,

Who for three days tasted no milk ;

22 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Caterina's equanimity of temper and preternatural
gravity outlasted her swaddling clothes. She was
never naughty and never played like other children ;
was quick at her lessons, and eager to imitate and aid
her mother in devotional exercises and works of charity.
And, since the fifteenth century for good and evil knew
nothing of " child-study " and " the principles of educa-
tion," the precocious piety and learning of the sickly,
intelligent, sweet-natured only daughter of Giovanni
and Benvenuta were encouraged, forced, and applauded
by admiring relatives and friends.

The fond father continually employed on affairs of
state, undoubtedly talked proudly of the infant prodigy
to his master, in whom paternal affection was also a
strong feature. Its objects in the case of the Marchese
d'Este were unfortunately not born in wedlock. It is
possible that had the childless Gigliola da Carrara — the
bride given to Niccol6 III when a mere boy of fourteen
— been able to hold him by the ties which in the case of
others he acknowledged readily and loyally, he would
never have formed the licentious habits which increas-
ingly disfigured his strong, vigorous, and enlightened
character. It is certain that many of his natural chil-
dren enjoyed not only a princely state, but a liberal
education and a careful upbringing, such as was received
by few of the ruling families of the day.

One of these children, a daughter named Margherita,
was a few months older than Giovanni's little girl, who

Nourished she was by divine love.
And like a gentle lamb she lay,
Nor wept, nor manifested any pain ;
Such joy God gave her in her heart.

CATERINA'S CHILDHOOD 23

was possibly a distant kinsman of the Marchese, and
was obviously what would be considered a desirable
companion. Thus it came to pass that at the age of
eleven Caterina, doubtless to her own great benefit,
became a member of the Este household and found a
friend and mistress in the " Principessa Margherita."

CHAPTER II

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA

Come
Ne le scendente spire de la conchiglla un eco
d' antichi pianti, un suono di lungo sospiro profondo
dal grande oceano ond' alia strappata fu permane
cosi per le tue piazze dilette dal sole, O Ferrara,
il nuovo peregrino tende le orecchie e ode
da' marmorei palagi sul Po discendere lenta
processione e canto d' un fantastico epos.

Carducci, Alia Citth di Ferrara

A GREAT part of the charm which the smaller and
less progressive cities of Italy possess for the
traveller lies in the fact that in them he temporarily
forgets the haste and vulgarity of modern life, and
realizes with intense vividness the days of their former
splendour, so that the present grows remote for him,
and the past becomes present.

Ferrara, for example, except on market-day, is what
a great modern poet has called it, a " citta di silenzio."
The men and women who glide down the long vistas of
deserted streets seem less substantial than the ghosts
which throng the sunny squares "where no footfall
violates the luminous mysteries." Beautiful "in splendid
April hours," indescribably mournful when wrapped in
autumn mists, icily calm amid the snows of winter, the
Lady of the Po, as Tasso called her, sits benumbed

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 25

and apathetic, high and dry above the water floods,
dreaming of the long past days when she and the river
were young and vigorous together.

But the decay of Ferrara's prosperity was due to
something more than changes in the physical configura-
tion of her territory. Her life was derived not only
from her river, but from her rulers. When the fecund
strength of both was drained away, her active career
was over. With his singular power of enunciating
profound truths and compressing large tracts of history
in a single dramatic episode, the late Mr. Shorthouse
described, by means of a brief conversation between
John Inglesant and a Ferrarese beggar, the disastrous
effects of the extinction of the house of Este, and of
the Papal government which followed. Inglesant,
leaving his companions after dinner, wanders forth to
take the air, and enters into conversation with divers
priests and loiterers. Some of the latter, perceiving
that he was a foreigner, and ignorant that he was riding
in the train of a Cardinal, begin to whisper of Papal
severity, exactions, and confiscations which "had
doomed many of the principal inhabitants of the city."
" They talk of the bad air," said one of these men to
Inglesant ; " the air was the same a century ago, when
this city was flourishing under its own princes — princes
of so eminent a virtue, of so heroical a nobleness that
they were really Fathers of their country. Nothing,"
he continued, with a mute gesture of the hands, "can
be imagined more changed than this is now.''

Mr. Shorthouse's Ferrarese beggar speaks with the
appropriate exaggeration of a man who remembers
"happier days." With the exception of Niccolo Ill's

26 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

son, Leonello, whose charming personality typifies all
that was good and gracious in the early Quattrocento,
the princes of the house of Este were not paragons of
"heroical nobleness," nor were they actively and con-
sciously Fathers of their country. They had the faults
common to the Italian despot of the time — but they
had them in diminished strength; they had the numerous
and brilliant facets, the intense vitality, the genuine
humanism characteristic even of some of the worst
rulers of their age, and they had them in an intense
degree. They were cruel and lustful, but they were
always men with passions controlled by reason, not
madmen at large, monsters in human form, incarnate
fiends, like Sigismundo Malatesta, Galeazzo Maria
Sforza, or Ferrante of Aragon. They were tyrannical ;
but like our own Tudor sovereigns they had a knack of
feeling the popular pulse, and of winning popular
applause, and their heavily taxed subjects were proud
of their magnificence. Most of them had a singular
genius for diplomacy, a singular personal charm, and a
real regard for art and letters. Under them Ferrara
became one of the most ardent foci of intellectual life
in the peninsula, a magnet attracting "whoe'er in Italy
is known to fame."

This brilliant epoch was inaugurated by Giovanni dei
Vigri's sovereign and employer. Niccol6 III, and the
young wife whom he wedded in 141 8, stand with their
backs turned to the dark, rude epoch of war, and their
faces lighted by the dawn of the renaissance. Parisina
da Malatesta, with her aesthetic instincts, her capacity
for organization, her radiant vitality, reminds us not
a little of her husband's granddaughter, the " incom-

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 27

parable lady" who summed up and expressed all the
charm of her family and of renaissance womanhood.
Like Isabella d'Este, the Marchesana Parisina was an
"errant princess," wandering continually from one
summer palace to another. Like her she played and
sang, and delighted in all sorts of music. Like her, she
had a fine taste in the adornment of her rooms and her
person. Painters decorated her oratory and her house-
hold furniture, while the merchants of Venice supplied
her with finely wrought combs and delicate perfumes.
She was less highly educated than the pupil of Jacopo
Gallino, her reading consisting chiefly of French
romances — " istorie francesi " ; and she was much more
of a sportswoman, caring greatly for her dogs and fal-
cons, entering her horses not only for the races of Fer-
rara, but for ^h&palii of other cities, and sharing her
prizes with her jockeys. Pleasure-loving, artistic, athletic,
she was none the less an excellent and industrious
housekeeper. Her husband's heterogeneous family
found in her a kind stepmother. She trained her twelve
maidens in housewifely skill, found them husbands,
supplied their dowries, and filled their marriage chests.
She was responsible too for the clothing of the entire
household, from her stepsons' tutor to the meanest
kitchen-boy.

The little Caterina dei Vigri had been a member of
that household only a few months when its fair and
brilliant mistress was suddenly removed. After 2 1 May,
1425, the name of Parisina appears no more in the
annals of the house of Este.

The story of the guilty love of the young Marches-
ana with Ugo Aldrobandini, Niccolo's first-born son, is

28 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

obscured by the reticence of contemporaries and the
embellishments of poets. The disgrace of an illustrious
house was decently covered, and all that we know with
certainty from original sources is that on the night of
21 May, in that part of Niccolo's great red -brick castello
called " The Tower of the Lions," Parisina and Ugo
expiated their sin, and that with them ^ " was beheaded
one Aldrovandino di Rangoni of the same family as
the aforesaid lord because he had been the occasion of
this ill." The contemporary Bolognese chronicler
Griffoni adds that two of the Lady Parisina's women
were also executed, and that^ " all the people of Ferrara
lamented greatly at the death of the aforesaid Ugo, for
that he was an honest, fair, and good youth, and much
beloved of the people of Ferrara."

We do not know what impression the fate of the
Marchesana made upon her heterogeneous family.
Leonello,* who was shortly afterwards legitimated as
heir-apparent by Pope Martin V, benefited by his
brother's fate ; but, gentle and gracious spirit that he
was, we can hardly suppose that he rejoiced at it.
Borso,* at the time a boy of twelve, long afterwards,
when he had succeeded to his father's and his brother's
place, spoke with approval of Niccolo's terrible act of
vengeance. The girls, to whatever extent they mourned
her, must have been disagreeably affected by the loss of
a woman's care. The household was without a mistress :
the court was under a cloud. Of one thing we may

' Diario Ferrarese, Muratori, Vol. XXIV.

" Matthaeus de Griffonibus, Muratori, Vol. XVIII, pt. ii. Edt. 1902.

^ Leonello was seventeen when his brother was executed.

■* Borso was born in 1413 ; he was therefore the same age as Caterina.

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 29

feel certain, Margherita and her young companion were
assuredly not ignorant of the details and import of
the tragedy. It was an age of plain speaking and
brief childhood, and the composition of the household,
Margherita's own position, the French romances
read aloud by Parisina's maidens, together with the
sermons of the day, must already have enlightened the
two children as to the meaning of the seventh com-
mandment and the frequency of its infraction. On a
sensitive and precocious girl like Caterina dei Vigri the
awful fate of a kind mistress and a gay and gallant
acquaintance cannot but have produced a horrible and
permanent impression. The sting of love and sin and
retribution must have left a painful mark upon her
mind, originating, or increasing, the distaste for the life
of the world which she very early evinced.

This distaste certainly did not spring from pique,
disappointment or sense of failure. Caterina's life
at court seems to have been successful and serene.
Her young mistress loved her with a tender and
enduring affection ; and in spite of the marked favour
shown her, she met with no unkindness. A woman's
superiority of intellect and character rarely provokes
jealousy unless she be beautiful, witty, or conceited.
Caterina was plain, a fragile brown-skinned creature,
whose only remarkable feature was a pair of large
expressive eyes. She talked little, but her voice was
sweet. She was modest and unassuming, grave and
discreet beyond her years, seeking not her own, shunning
rather than courting admiration. She was, in fact, one
of those retiring, reliable, gentle natures who "wear
well " ; who are not exactly popular with either sex,

30 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

but whom women seek as confidantes and men as
wives.

Of suitors, and that when still what we should call a
mere child, Caterina had no lack. She had more than
her amiability of character to recommend her. The
only child of a wdalthy man whom Niccol6 III delighted
to honour, she was distinctly a good match ; and
possibly she had something of the heiress's natural dis-
trust of fortune-hunters. Certainly she was averse to
matrimony, and her indulgent and well-beloved father
put no pressure on her.

We have no direct information as to the education of
the " Princess " Margherita and her young companion,
but Caterina's writings and the relics in the chapel of
the Santa at Bologna prove that she was an apt pupil,
and indicate the range of her studies.

Little more than a hundred years before, Paolo da
Certaldo ^ in his advice to parents had declared that " if
the child be a girl she should be put to sew and not to
read, for it is not good that a woman should know how to
read." The parents of Margherita and Caterina evidently
thought that a girl should be taught not only to read
but to read Latin ; not only to read Latin but to " write
fair " ; not only to write but to illuminate, to paint, to
play on an instrument, and to sing. This is a liberal
education not calculated to form women of the patient
Griselda type, and far beyond the requirements of the
mere housekeeper and child-bearer. The ideals of the
thirteenth century are visibly fading before the advance
of the new learning.

* Breve Consiglio di Paolo da Certaldo, published by S. Morpengo.
Florence, 1872.

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 31

Caterina's book, Le Sette Arme Necessarie alia
Battaglia Spirituale, mystical and Trecentisti as it
is in sentiment, is essentially a product of the new
feminism. It was written when she was only twenty-
five, but it bears no traces of timidity or immaturity.
It contains many expressions of deep humility — ex-
pressions which in Caterina's case were certainly more
than conventional — but these are not incompatible with
a note of dignity and authority. The young authoress
speaks with the poise and conscious competency of a
highly educated woman.

The work is worthy of attention from several points
of view : it was a new departure ; it is practically an
autobiography ; it has real literary merit.

The woman who wrote at all in the early fifteenth
century had something of the temper of an adventurer —
she who ventured into the region of theology had the
boldness of an explorer. In the "dark ages" female
education, in so far as it existed at all, was found in the
shelter of the cloister. Even Paolo da Certaldo was
willing that a girl should be taught to read if she were
destined for a nunnery (se la vuole fare monacha),
adding that in that case she should be sent young to
the convent and should learn there. There had been
highly cultured and even literary nuns before Caterina's
day. Learned Benedictines were occupied in transcrip-
tion, and produced MSS. far surpassing in beauty Cater-
ina's comparatively simple breviary. Saint Radegonda
in the sixth century had obliged her sisters at Poitiers
to devote two hours a day to reading. Saint Lioba,
the associate of Boniface and Walburga, and the
honoured friend of Charlemagne, was a poetess and

33 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

introduced the study of the Fathers and of the Canon
Law into the teaching of her convent and its school.
Cecilia, daughter of William the Conqueror and Abbess
of Caen, was remarkable for her knowledge of grammar
and philosophy. Hroswitha of Gandersheim had written
dramas for performance in the convent. None of these
ladies, however, had attempted to deal with the subjects
which presumably chiefly occupied their time and
thoughts. It was reserved for Caterina dei Vigri to
write of the difficulties and progress of the spiritual life
as lived within the walls of a convent.

She conceives that life as a combat for which the
Christian who would follow the banner of his Lord
" who died upon the battle-field " must duly arm him-
self. " The first weapon is Diligence ; the second is
Distrust of Self; the third is Confidence in God ; the
fourth is the thought of Christ's Passion ; the fifth is
the thought of Death ; the sixth is the thought of God's
Glory ; the seventh is the Authority of Holy Scripture."

This arrangement of the spiritual armoury — an
arrangement which seems to be original and arbitrary
— determines the division of the book into seven
chapters and an introduction. In the martial spirit
which inspires the scheme and which breathes through
all the autobiographical passages, we may perhaps trace
the early influence of Caterina's paternal uncle, " Comes
et Miles," while in the systematic arrangement of her
material, a tendency to scholastic subtlety, and a
marked accuracy of definition, we may see marks of her
legal ancestry. As one example out of many of her
careful reasoning, and of what we may call the legal
quality of her mind, we may quote a little passage

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 33

dealing with Christ's capacity as man to suffer the
extremity of spiritual distress. Her theme is the third
Weapon — Confidence in God — who, she declares, will
never abandon those who trust in Him. "Albeit by his
permission the Handmaiden and Bride of Christ is
sometimes placed in such severe and painful conflict
that she cries from her heart towards Heaven, saying :
My God, forsake me not: yet then, when she most
fears that she is abandoned, is she lifted closest by a
divine and occult mystery to the highest perfection of
God. And of this we have an example in his only Son,
who, being at the point of a most bitter and painful
death, cried, saying : ' Pater, ut quid me dereliquisti ? '
Yet we know that at that moment Christ, true Son of
God, triumphed in complete and true perfection in the
fulfilment of obedience to the Eternal Father, with
whom he was perfectly united, although at that time,
in so much as he was man, susceptible to pain and
death, he said : ' My God, why hast thou forsaken
Me?' But this was because the Divinity inseparably
united to Him left the human and sensitive part
of his nature : and this justice demanded, that the
painful obedience of the same Christ might cancel the
pleasurable disobedience of our first father.

" Now returning to our proposition, the Handmaiden
of Christ fears not to be forsaken, though sometimes
she may seem to be : for she knows that the Eternal
Father will not let that befall her which did not
befall his own Son : thus when she finds herself
in great straits and tribulation, she has confidence
in the Divine succour, mindful of the sweet promise
made by Him, when He said by the mouth of the

THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Prophet : Cum ipso sum in tribulatione, eripiam eum,
et glorificabo eum."

It is noteworthy that of Caterina's direct quotations
from the Vulgate, seven are from the Psalms and
Prophets. The same number are from the Gospels;
there are three from Saint Paul's Epistles, one from
that of Saint James, and one from the Apocalypse.
She quotes also from " that most glorious doctor of the
ancient fathers. Saint Anthony of Vienna," from " the
most venerable Saint Augustine," and from Saint Ber-
nard, and is familiar with the sayings of " Frate Ber-
nardino," " Frate Egidio," and above all " il Padre rustro
S. Francesco." But there is absolutely no trace in her
little book of any knowledge of the classics, an absence
which perhaps supports, but quite as possibly originated.
Father Grassetti's assertion that she resolutely closed
her eyes to the antique world, and refused to read any
Pagan authors.

Perchance if Guerino, that most famous of renaissance
scholars, had reached Ferrara a few years earlier, and
Margherita had shared the lessons given to her brothers,
or if Caterina had remained in the world a few years
longer, and begun to feel the power and spirit of the
new learning, as it penetrated from literature to thought,
from thought to life, softening customs and disciplining
manners, perhaps Ferrara would have gained a scholar
and a poet, and Bologna would have lost a saint. As it
was, the rising tide of humanism barely touched the
maiden's feet, and she recoiled from it.

In spirit Caterina belonged to an epoch earlier or
later than her own. She might have foregathered with
the Desert Cenobites of the third century — .and indeed

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 35

the life of a hermit had a peculiar attraction for her —
or have given her testimony in the meeting-house
of some devoted, obscure, sixteenth-century English
Puritans : and in either company she would have been
more at home than in the fifteenth-century Court of
Ferrara. She entirely lacked the j'ote de vivre of typical
renaissance womanhood ; she had none of the delight
in physical loveliness, the faculty for existing beauti-
fully, the knack of gliding easily over the surface of life,
which were beginning to be cultivated and displayed by
her contemporaries.

Her paintings are archaic, conventional, Byzantine in
character. They somehow remind us of Illuminata's
testimony concerning her : —

" And this I say in commendation of her purity and
cleanliness of body (mondezza di corpo) and mind that
I, and others living here, heard her say these words,
that never, never, never, had she looked upon her own
body."

And if her paintings show no trace of the new con-
ception that the human frame is worthy of patient and
reverent study, still less do her writings indicate any
loving observation of natural phenomena or of animal
or plant life. The world which to Leonello and his
nieces, Isabella and Beatrice d'Este, was truly a garden
of delight, was to Caterina only a place of exile and
repentance. Men were to be strangers and pilgrims,
travelling unobservant and self-absorbed as Saint
Bernard on his Swiss tour, not like Chaucer's sociable
caravan, nor like the companions of Saint Francis,
noting the ways of beast and bird and the humours of
the road. The power to appreciate the latter was

36 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

apparently quite absent from Caterina's composition.
And if it be urged that a book of spiritual instructions
offers but little scope for the display of such a faculty,
we would ask the reader to turn to the sermons of her
contemporary, S. Bernardino — whom she greatly ad-
mired— to see how even direct religious teaching may
be salted with humour. Moreover, while Sister Illu-
minata tells of her friend's kindness, industry, obedience,
prayerfulness, and other qualities, she relates no inci-
dents which indicate that Caterina had any sense of fun.
On the other hand, she does dwell on what we may call
her Puritan seriousness, which refused to take delight in
arts or crafts for their own sake. " During the day,"
says lUurainata, " she was never seen to stand idle for a
moment, because she held time so precious that she did
not want to spend an ounce of it without profit, saying :
How great is human blindness ! For time is given us
as the greatest treasure we can possess, and we are so
mad as not to consider that in its use lies our salvation
or damnation." " And holidays and work-days she was
never idle, having a cultured mind and skilful fingers.
Yet would she never occupy her time with those things
which seemed to her merely curious and vain, such as
fine stitching or writing and ornamentation, saying that
time given to such things was ill-spent. But she made
an exception for the adornment of breviaries, saying
that these should be used reverently, as one would use a
chalice, out of respect to the holy words which minister
to God's praise. But she did not like flowers and
branches and borders even then, saying that they only
served to dissipate the mind. And thus she wrote her
own breviary with great simplicity " ; and often while

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CONVENT OF CORPUS DOMINI, BOLOGNA

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 37

writing, carried away by the words she was transcribing,
she would rise " with her eyes full of tears," and then
"extending her arms she said the Pater Noster, and
then began to write again."

Caterina's ethical theories were in conflict with her
aesthetic sensibilities. She had to excuse and explain
to herself her persistent delight in music, painting,
and literature ; and, thus with the peculiar mingling of
humility and sublime presumption characteristic of the
mystics of all creeds, she attributes her various accom-
plishments to direct Divine inspiration. Sick unto death,
she plays upon the viol, deaf to all other sounds, un-
mindful of those around her ; but her melody, she
declares, is but a repetition of strains heard in dreams
of the celestial choir. She paints the Holy Child^ " for
many places in the monastery of Ferrara and in little
for the books " ; but she claims that her model was no
earthly child but a reproduction of a vision granted to
her one blessed Christmas night. She writes her spiritual
instructions ; and in her preface she affirms that the
"piccola operetta" is composed with the Divine aid
and by Divine compulsion.

The Seven Weapons, by reason of its style and
scope, its mysticism and poetry, necessarily challenges
comparison with the writings of S. Teresa. But as
we should expect from its earlier date, the work of
Caterina is slighter, fresher and more spontaneous than
that of the Carmelite. The Northern Italian was less
complex, less emotional, less intellectually powerful, but
more original and robust than the famous Spaniard.
Her mysticism had not the same Oriental tinge ; her

' lUuminata's Specchio d' Illuminatione.

38 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

reserve was greater ; and her autobiography, instead
of being written deliberately and at the prompting of
her spiritual advisers like that of Teresa, must be
read between the lines of her instructions, which were
penned in secret and seen by no one in her lifetime.
She draws upon her personal experiences merely by
way of illustration, warning or consolation, — fearing, as
she solemnly declares, " The Divine reproval should
I keep silence about that which might help others."
She must needs deliver her testimony, and to do so is
her single aim. Thus her confidences are singularly
intimate, spontaneous, and sincere ; and, supplemented
as they are by Illuminata's recollections, they make us
extraordinarily well acquainted with the inner life of a
fifteenth-century nun.

But albeit The Seven Weapons is interesting to the
modern reader chiefly as a human document, it is by no
means despicable as a specimen of fifteenth-century
Italian. Caterina's style is unstudied, but her natveti,
her intense earnestness, and her vivid imagination some-
times produce the effect of great art. Her sentences
are occasionally as long as those of seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century authors ; but their length is due
not to verbosity, but to a kind of breathless eagerness or
to complicated and sustained thought. Like S. Teresa
she was something of a poetess, writing devotional
sonnets and canticles ; while the distinguished Italian
writer, Marco Minghetti, has remarked that her prose
is always musical, and that her more ecstatic passages
might be broken up into blank verse. He instances the
opening of The Seven Weapons : —

" In nome sia dell' Eterno Padre, e del suo Unigenito

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 39

Figliuolo Cristo Gesu splendore di essa paterna gloria,
per amore del quale con giubilo di cuore grido dicendo
in verso le sue dilettissime Serve e Spose :

"Ciascuna amante ch' ama il Signore venga alia danza
cantando d' amore ; venga danzando tutta infiammata,
sol bramando Colui che I'ha creata e dal pericoloso
stato mondano 1' ha disseparata ponendola nel nobilis-
simo claustro della santa Religione, acciocche in esso
purgata da ogni macula di peccato, e vestendosi lo
adornamento delle sante, e nobili virtudi, riformando la
bellezza dell' anima, e riducendola al primo stato dell'
innocenza acciocch^ essa dignamente possa entrare
dopo questa peregrinazione nel glorioso talamo del suo
castissimo e verginale Sposo Cristo Gesti." ^

Which passage — far more poetical in conception than
the hymn quoted by most of her biographers and
given in full in an Appendix — may be broken into lines
thus : —

Ciascuna atnante ch' ama il Signore
Venga alia danza cantando d' amore ;
Venga danzando, tutta infiammata
Sol bramando Colui che 1' ha creata,
£ dal stato mondano 1' ha disseparata, etc.

' In the name of the Eternal Father, and of His only begotten Son
Jesus Christ, the splendour of the paternal glory, for love of whom I cry
with joyful heart to his dearly beloved handmaidens and brides, saying :
Let every lover who loves the Lord come to the dance singing with love ;
let her come dancing wholly inflamed, desiring Him alone who created her
and separated her from the world's perilous state, putting her into the
worshipful cloister of holy Religion, so that in it, purged from every spot
of sin, and clothed with noble virtues and the adornment of the saints,
renewing the beauty of the soul, and reducing it to its primal state
of innocence, so that this pilgrimage ended, she may worthily enter into
glorious union with her chaste and virginal spouse, Christ Jesus.

40 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Caterina's life at Court ended in May, 1427. On
the twenty-seventh of that month Margherita took
back to the Malatesta the lands Parisina had brought
as dowry to the Marchese d'Este. She went, poor
maiden of fifteen, to an unwilling bridegroom some
eighteen months her senior, — the eldest natural son of
Pandolfo, Lord of Rimini, Fano, Cesena, and Fossom^
brone, legitimated and put in the line of succession
by Martin V, a pontiff who was particularly obliging
in such matters. Galeotto Roberto had no desire for
the greatness thrust upon him or for the bride chosen
for him. He was sorrowful because he had great
possessions ; he longed to leave all and follow Christ —
in a way of his own choosing. He spent his days
in prayer and meditation, fasted, wore a hair-shirt,
slept on a table, and refused to live with his young
wife till commanded to do so by his confessor. In
vain the Pope censured his neglect of the duties of a
ruler, and invited him to take up arms on behalf of the
Holy See. Galeotto Roberto would not be troubled
by politics or war. Like our own Edward the Con-
fessor, he was a good monk spoiled by the force of
ancestry and circumstance, and a bad ruler by reason
of the preponderance of his religious instincts. Monkish
historians represent Margherita as trying his patience
by interfering with his devotions and displaying a
worldly and ambitious temper ; but they never accuse
her, neglected young wife as she was, of levity or indis-
cretion. She may well have been irritated by her
husband's neglect of his responsibilities, and, inheriting
the Este capacity for affairs, may have taken on herself
many of the burdens laid down by the "Beato Roberto."

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 41

That the lot of the Lady of Rimini would have been
made sweeter by the presence of her well-loved com-
panion we cannot doubt ; but Caterina refused to
accompany the bride to her new home. She had
already chosen what she believed to be the better part.
The death of Giovanni dei Vigri a few months previously
had severed the strongest tie which bound her to the
world ; and after Margherita's wedding she left the Court
for the family house, on the site of which the chapel
dedicated to S. Caterina dei Vigri now stands. There
she dwelt with her mother for some months — probably
till the widow's year of mourning had expired and
Benvenuta contracted her second marriage with a citizen
of Ferrara.

It was assuredly not antipathy to a stepfather, or
need of a home, which drove Caterina to the shelter of
a convent. Friends sought her as companion to their
daughters, suitors renewed their offers, relatives were
anxious to arrange a marriage. But Caterina had made
her choice. One would gladly have had from her own
pen an account of the motives which determined it.
Failing such direct information, we fall back on a
reported speech given us by her friend : " When I left
the world," — thus she spake to Illuminata, — "my sole
object was to do the will of God and to love Him with
a perfect love; and day and night I had no other desire
nor thought save only to be able to love and to know
God, and all my strength and study was directed to this
end ; and I was willing to be despised of all the world,
if only I might love God."

That this is a positive and high aim no one will
dispute ; whether it can be attained only or most per-

42 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

fectly by renunciation of the world is of course another
question, the answer to which depends {a) on the con-
dition of the world at a given period ; {b) on the tem-
perament and position of the given individual ; (c) on
the relation of the one to the other.

" Madame," said a distinguished English traveller to a
distinguished Abbess, " you are here not from the love
of virtue but from the fear of vice."

Caterina, by her own showing, does not deserve the
censure implied in this criticism. Yet even the negative
aim indicated by the somewhat impertinent Englishman
may in certain conditions of society be commendable,
nay, perhaps heroic. Charles Kingsley, defending the
hermits of the Thebaid, urged that where reformation
is impossible, self-expatriation ceases to be cowardice ;
and that the Roman civilization of the fourth century
being irredeemably corrupt, men and women wishful to
escape its taint were compelled to fly from infection.
Civilized society in the fifteenth century was un-
doubtedly healthier than in the fourth ; nevertheless the
environment of Caterina's youth sufficiently indicates
the low standards prevailing in the most cultured and
enlightened circles of the day. The little girl was placed
by tender and pious parents in a household of bastards
— affectionately acknowledged by a prince who died
the father of three hundred illegitimate children — and
in surroundings where it was obvious she would have
every opportunity of gathering material for her future
generalization, that the crying vices of her time were
" ambition, avarice, and that most abominable sin which
is contrary to the virginal and chaste beauty of Christ."

Over such surroundings, moreover, a woman had

CATERINA At THE COURT OF FERRARA 43

small influence unless she happened to be of exalted
rank or the inmate of a convent. In the one case her
example and her commands were of weight in her own
circle, while through her husband she might contribute
to the welfare of the nation ; in the other, her position
was a protest against the sins of society, while, if she were
of distinguished learning or sanctity, her advice might
be sought and taken by the great ones of the earth.
Between the cloister and the domestic hearth she must
needs choose. There was no place in Caterina's wOrld
for the unprotected, independent spinster; and if the
cloister were cold, the hearth may well have seemed to
her to be lit by a very fitful flame. Conjugal fidelity
was rare ; conjugal happiness for the weaker partner at
least was still rarer ; and Caterina was the petted only
child of tender parents, a girl with keen susceptibilities,
a loving heart, and attenuated passions. It is possible
that as an honoured and beloved matron she would have
shone in the society of Ferrara, a woman whose price
is above rubies ; it is far more probable that as a
neglected wife she would have covered her wounded
pride in a mantle of moody piety. It is possible that
sons and daughters would have called her blessed and
extended her circle of righteous influence ; yet no
children after the flesh could have needed her more or
have been better loved than the novices she mothered
with rare and wise tenderness. It is possible that in
looking well to the ways of her house she might have
found scope for her rich gifts of mind and heart ; but in
no capacity could her tact and administrative talents
have been more fully exercised than as abbess of a large
community.

44 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Again, Caterina was a fragile, delicately organized,
tenderly nurtured young woman in a world of robust
passions, strong vitality, and scant sympathy with suffer-
ing, where the weakly did not cumber the earth and
only the fittest survived. Fasts and vigils were prob-
ably less exhausting to nerves and digestion than the
uncomfortable travelling, unwholesome banquets, and
protracted revelry indulged in by the great ladies of
her day ; while in the matter of discomfort — or what we
consider such — there was little difference between the
palace and the convent. The winter chill of the cells
in the convent of Corpus Domini must have been less
icy than that of the great sala in the unwarmed Castello.
The nun's pallet was probably cleaner and more com-
fortable than the silken-covered but ill-stuffed, ill-kept
beds^ of the reigning family. In spite of her self-
imposed austerities, Caterina probably lived longer in
the convent than she would have done had she con-
tinued in the Este Court.

It was from this same Court that a generation later
the grandson of Niccol6 Ill's physiqian fled to the
Dominican convent at Bologna. Caterina, artistic,
sensitive, fervid, taking herself and the world very
seriously, capable of intense emotion, and of burning
philanthropy, bears not a little resemblance in character
to the great Florentine preacher of righteousness and
judgment. She was, moreover, afflicted by the constant,
wearing, bodily weakness which deprives its unfortunate
possessor of the joie de vivre. She had not physically
a particle of the buoyant vitality which enabled women

' For information as to the beds of the Court of Ferrara see a
pamphlet by H. Galandi, published Modena, 1889.

CATERINA AT THE COURT OF FERRARA 45

of the type of Isabella d'Este to seize the beauty of
their surroundings and be blind to the brutality. Can
we doubt that in the great red palace-castle, which
seems to symbolize the Este rule alike in its most
splendid and its grimmest features, this little pale-faced,
sober maid-of-honour was overwhelmed, like Girolamo
Savonarola, by the thought of the inequality of society,
by " the misery of the world and the iniquities of men ? "

CHAPTER III

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE

Donna piii su, mi disse, alia cui norma
Nel vostro mondo giu si veste e vela
Perche in fino al moiir si vegghi e dorma
Con quello Sposo ch' ogni voto accetta
Che caritate a suo piacer conforma.

Dante, Paradiso, iii. 98.

THE building in Ferrara which for twenty-four
years was Caterina dei Vigri's home was not,
when she first entered it, an enclosed nunnery. The
house was the property and private residence of a
certain pious widow, Bernardina Sedazzi. Her niece,
Lucia Mascheroni, lived with her, and little by little
aunt and niece gathered round them a society of devout
women, who adopted the habit and the rule of the
Pinzochere, or third order of Augustinians.

Aunt and niece often discussed the possibility of
converting their anomalous household into a regular
convent under the Augustinian rule ; but Bernardina's
funds were thought to be inadequate, there were various
difficulties to overcome, and she at length died without
carrying the project into effect. She bequeathed both
her real and her personal property to Lucia, directing
that it should be devoted to the purpose so dear to both
their hearts.

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 47

Lucia at once took steps to carry out her aunt's wish,
but she found that the majority of her household was
desirous that the new convent should be placed under
a stricter rule. The ladies had been accustomed to
frequent the Franciscan church (S. Spirito), and to look
to the Frati for guidance and spiritual direction. What
more natural than that the new foundation should be
placed under the rule of the blessed Saint Clare?

Lucia was carried away by these representations ;
and the zealots of the community — among whom was
Caterina — appeared to have gained their end, when
resistance suddenly arose from an unexpected quarter.
A certain Sister Ailisia, a self-seeking and ambitious
woman, protested that Lucia Mascheroni was not free
to do what she liked with her inheritance. Bernardina
had intended to found an Augustinian house : Lucia,
by placing the new convent under another rule, forfeited
her right to the property, which consequently passed to
those members of the community who were ready to
obey the terms of their benefactor's bequest.

Ailisia's obstruction was not restricted to remon-
strance, nor even to the creation of dissension and bad
feeling in the once harmonious community. Lucia,
obliged to enlarge the house, was proposing to purchase
a contiguous property. Ailisia, who had influential
relatives, contrived to tamper with the owner and to
stop the sale. She then brought her case before the
civil tribunal of Ferrara, and judgment was given in
her favour, the defendant being unheard. Lucia Mas-
cheroni, with all the zealots, was ejected from her old
home, and Sister Ailisia reigned in her stead. But the
litigation and the bitterness of feeling awakened and

48 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

revealed, caused so great a scandal in Ferrara that
many parents called for their daughters and compelled
them to return to their own homes.

But if Ailisia had influence with the judge, Lucia
was able to get hold of the Archbishop. A certain
Madonna Verde, of the great family of the Pii da
Carpi, was active in her behalf The case was trans-
ferred to the Ecclesiastical Court.

Lucia's defence was founded on the perfect harmony
of mind and intuition which had always existed be-
tween herself and the deceased. They wore the
Augustinian habit, and in their plans for the future
had never thought of any but the Augustinian rule.
Had the desirability of a stricter life been suggested
to Bernardina Sedazzi, she would undoubtedly have
concurred with the idea.

The Vicar of the Archbishop found that the spirit
was more important than the letter. He reversed,
doubtless with great satisfaction, the decision of the
civil court ; and a papal bull was speedily obtained,
sanctioning the foundation of the new convent and the
adoption of the Franciscan rule.

To adapt the old house to its new character as an
enclosed nunnery was to make it for a while uninhabit-
able. Alterations and enlargements necessitated a
general exodus.

The necessity filled Caterina with terror. She refused
to go to her mother's house, and " with great sorrow "
besought those who came to remove her that they
would take her to a place where " she should not be
obliged to see nor to speak with any one." She was, in
fact, lodged in a convent in the city ; but at the earliest

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 49

possible moment she returned to the old house, living in
great discomfort and forwarding the building operations
with her own hands. It was at this time that she
sustained a painful and lasting injury to the spine,
being crushed against a wall by a heavy cart filled with
lime.

She was now assailed by an unexpected tempta-
tion which she describes as follows in The Seven
Weapons ^ : —

" After some days as it pleased the Divine Providence
she returned to that Place with five others of those
sisters who were there from the first : and the re-
building of the Monastery went on well. But some
time elapsed before it was possible to be locked in
and cloistered, so that people came to visit the place and
entered therein. Whereupon the Enemy attacked her,
and instigated certain persons of great state according
to the world who in secret besought her to consent to go
and stay in their house as companion to one of their
daughters left alone ; (d' una lor figliuola dismissa) saying
that were it necessary to obtain the licence of the Pope
or of any other person, she need not doubt but that all
and more than she desired for the welfare of soul or
body should be duly looked to. To which promises
she consented not, but she stood firm and constant
in the aforesaid place, in perfect faith that she should
yet be cloistered (si serreria in clausura) under the rule
of Saint Clare, and so it came to pass."

' She always writes of herself in The Seven Weapons in the third
person.

so THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Now who were these " great persons " who so ardently
desired Caterina's company, who were so confident of
obtaining the Pope's approbation of her return to the
world, and whose appeal came to her as a real and in-
sidious temptation?

A careful observation of the wording of Caterina's
narrative and a comparison of dates seem to furnish
an answer to the enigma. We find that Caterina was
professed and cloistered under the rule of Saint Clare in
the year 1432 ; that early in the same year Galeotto
Roberto Malatesta had given up his futile attempts at
government and had retired into a monastery ; and that
in the preceding year the Marchese Niccolo had married
for a third time. Margherita, dismissa, dismissed, aban-
doned by her husband, at once returned to her father's
house, where the presence of a new stepmother, Ricciarda
da Saluzzo, accounts for Caterina's plural forms — ^"in
casa lorol' " d' una lor figliuola," " alcune persone."

A proposal that she should take up her abode with
strangers, however great their "state according to the
world," would have had no attraction for a woman of
Caterina's temperament, while her warm affections and
helpful instincts, starved and repressed in her present
life, would have yearned towards her lonely friend, and
inclined her heart to the appeal of her father's sovereign
and benefactor. Margherita's peculiar and unexpected
position might well have been interpreted as a real
" call " ; and since Caterina must have anticipated that
her gentle pious mistress, a widow in fact, yet not free
to wed again, would lead a life of great retirement — as
indeed proved the case — she might have argued with
perfect sincerity that in resuming her former duties she

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 51

might, like Constance, mother of the Emperor Frederick,
retain " the veil of the heart."

Whether this hypothesis concerning the identity of
Caterina's friends be correct or not, it is certain that in
the eyes of her contemporaries her return to the world
would have been justified by the late upheaval in the
community and the fact that she was not yet " obbligata
a religione." It is also certain that her refusal to do so
was an act not of cowardice, but of splendid courage.

The autobiographical passages scattered through
The Seven Arms show that the period of her irregular
noviciate was one of acute misery. Parental indulgence
and ^ strong will, physical' unfitness, and the lack of
tenderness and wisdom on the part of her superiors,
combined to make the initial steps in the religious life
peculiarly painful and difficult to her ; so that in after
years she declared that were she bidden to choose
between immediate decapitation and a return to the
" mortal sadness " of those first five years she would
unhesitatingly accept the former alternative. Words
such as these reveal the strength of the temptation in-
volved in the invitation of her mysterious friends, and
give us the measure of her valour in rejecting it. To
accept it would have been to make the " great refusal,"
to proclaim despair in the Father's power and love, to
confess herself beaten, to lay down once for all the
"seven arms."

Another passage in her book gives us by implication
further information as to her state of mind at this period.
We see the reason of her agitation at the enforced
exodus of the nuns, of her refusal to return to her
mother's house, of her request to be kept secluded, of

S2 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

her furious longing to be shut in by bolts and bars and
bound by the vows of a professed religious. The shadow
of past struggles with her own affections, of old frantic
desiring to go free, lies across her exhortation to her
novices.

" No sooner are they within the monastery than they
repent of that which they desired with so much ardour,
and were it not for very shame they would turn back,
that is, go forth. Which thing happens chiefly to those
destined to bear great fruit in the way of God ; for not
only does it seem to them that they have not found
God as they hoped, but they fear that they are deprived
of Him and of all favour and devotion ; for before
their entrance they desired with great fervour for God's
love to abandon relatives and friends ; and now the
enemy tempts them to contrary feelings, giving them
such tender memories of the same that waking and
sleeping they can think of nothing else . . . and devo-
tion becoming utterly insipid to them they fall into
great sadness, saying : Truly I was better before I came
here, and better I served God, and with more devotion
than I do now : and thus the specious enemy tempts
them to turn back. But the bride of Christ must in no
wise consent to such deception : with hasty and resolute
spirit she must constrain her free will, and say to herself
even if my Lord permit me to be tempted always,
even to the end of my life, I will not yield : and having
made this resolution she will fall to prayer with all
possible fervour, saying with heart and mouth : My
dearest Lord Jesus Christ, by that infinite and un-
speakable love which bound thee to the post of scourg-
ing, and made thee bear for my sake the cruel and

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE

bitter smiting of thy foes, give me, I beseech thee,
strength that through thy grace I may have victory
over my enemies, and may endure with patience this
and every other conflict which thou mayest assign me."

To confess defeat may be courage and prudence on
the part of those who are capable of taking up a new
and more defensible position. But Caterina recognized
no rampart against sin save the religious life, and to
evacuate it was to yield herself a captive to the Enemy
of Souls. Compromise was to her a loss of knightly
honour and therefore of self-respect. She brought to
the spiritual combat the temper and standards of
chivalry, and bore herself always as preu chevalier,
without fear and without reproach. It is easy to say
her ideals were false : it is difficult to see how she
could have deliberately deviated from them without
degradation of character.

So, practising first what she preached long afterwards,
she stood to her post, and that even when tempted to
leave it by another and far more insidious suggestion.
This conflict also is described in The Seven ^rms : —

"In the beginning of her conversion, when she had
lived some years in the present Place, she began to
taste the sweet savour of divine love in prayer, and
for that reason was seized with a great desire to go
forth into a desert and solitary place ; and considering
that she could well do this, because this Place was not
yet made into a convent (il Luogo non era obbligato
a religione), the desire grew strongly on her."

Did Caterina, we wonder, know how one of her
heroes, S. Bernardino of Siena, was once seized by,
and yielded to, a similar desire, and how and why the

54 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

experiment failed ? The incident is related by himself
with such inimitable humour that with an apology for
digression it must be given here.

"One day I was seized with a desire to live as an
angel, not as a man." Can we not see the twinkle in
the Prate's eyes as he scans his audience after pro-
nouncing these words ? " Well, God bless you, listen
and see what happened. The idea came to me to
live on herbs and water, and I made up my mind to
betake myself to the wood. Then I began to ask
myself : And what wilt thou do in a wood ? what wilt
thou eat? Then I answered: 'What did the holy
hermits do ? I shall eat grass when I am hungry, and
when I am thirsty I shall drink water.' . . . Then I
went seeking a place wherein to establish myself, and
I thought I would go as far as Massa.' And as I passed
through the valley of Boccheggiano, first at this hill
and then at that I said : ' I shall do well here. No,
there I shall do better still.' At last, not to enter into
details, I returned to Siena, and decided to begin to try
there the life I wished to lead. And I went down
outside the gate of Fallonica and began to gather a
salad of grass and sow-thistles ; and I had no salt nor
bread nor oil. I began, just for once, to wash and
scrape it ; but next time I meant to scrape it only,
and when I was more accustomed to such fare, I should
give that up too. And in the name of Christ I began
with a bit of sow-thistle. I put it in my mouth and
began to chew, chew, chew, chew. But unable to
swallow it, I said: 'Well, I will drink a draught of
water.' But the water wouldn't go down either and
' The village near Siena where Fra Bernardino was born.

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 55

the thistles remained in my mouth. I tried several
draughts of water, but still I couldn't swallow that bit
of thistle.

" Do you guess what I am going to tell you ? I wish
to say that with a mouthful of thistle I vanquished that
temptation."

Caterina vanquished hers by other means. Had she
ever considered the subject of a hermit'^ diet her
woman's culinary instincts would probably have pre-
served her from the Frate's errors ; but this aspect of
the recluse's life does not seem to have occupied her
thoughts. She took herself and the world very
seriously, and that she could greatly admire a character
so unlike her own as that of Bernardino is a proof not
of her power to appreciate his humour, but of the
sensible Christian charity which made her, when
Abbess, constantly remind her children that the in-
dividuality of each sister was to be respected ; that
there was ^ no one mould of holiness, that quot homines
tot sancti.

But let us return to her narrative concerning her
decision against a hermit's life.

"Somewhat fearful and distrustful of herself, she
sought to know the divine pleasure; wherefore she began
to make great and almost continual prayer, beseeching
the Divine Majesty day and night to show her how
she ought to act.

^ She used to instance the difference between S. Arsenius and "the
great Anthony," the former always lachrymose, the latter invariably gay
and cheerful. "If these two men," she argued, "had such diverse views
and sentiments, why should I be scandalized when I see my neighbours
taking another path than that which appears best to me?" (lUuminata
Bembo and Father Grassetti. )

S6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

" And having for many days made prayer with great
anxiety and diligence, it came to pass one morning
when she was praying in the Church of the present
Place about the hour of terce, that it pleased God to
hear her. The Divine Mercy wholly revealed to her
what she had asked. And among other things it was
told that person that she should remain and dwell in
the state and place to which God had called her.
Therefore, in obedience to the divine revelation, she
resolved to remain in the present Place, understanding
clearly that this was the will of God."

Why she felt it to be the will of God that she should
continue to live in a community is manifested in an
exhortatory passage based on this experience. She is
addressing her novices : —

" As soon as the Devil sees that the Religious person
begins to taste the sweetness of the divine love in prayer
he at once inspires her with a desire to go forth into a
desert and solitary place, saying : ' Look now, thou wilt
have more opportunity of tasting the sweetness of God
and thou wilt be able to stay day and night in prayer
as much as thou wouldst.' But be wary, my beloved
sisters, and consider that this counsel and desire accords
not with the true and most excellent counsel of Christ,
who invites us not to follow after mental sweetness and
comfort and the pleasing of our own will, but to take
up the dear cross, saying, abneget semetipsum"

Caterina's resolution not to quit " the present Place,"
either for the world or for the desert, is the more
remarkable because the recent discussions in the com-
munity, and Sister Ailisia's conduct, must have destroyed
many of her girlish illusions, and opened her eyes to the

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 57

worst possibilities of convent life. Her narrative and
the exhortation which springs out of it reveal her grit
and independence, and the peculiar mingling of mystic-
ism and shrewdness in her character. Life in a religious
community, she argues, is a continual crucifixion of
self, a continual renunciation of personal affections and
desires ; therefore it is a more real following of Christ
and the precepts of Saint Francis ^ than is the peaceful
egotism of the anchorite or hermit. Self-deception,
sentimental egotism, weak self-pleasing are impossible
and abhorrent to her candid, combative nature. She
does not prate of her emotions and desires, nor, as we
shall see later, of her visions. She does not seek advice
from all her friends, nor does she ask her spiritual
superiors to save her from the burden of decision. She
believes implicitly in the power of the Holy Spirit to
enlighten her judgment, and she patiently awaits the
Divine revelation.

The same temper appears in her account of the
reasons which induced her to modify some of her
original practices. She had "given herself to the service
of God with a good conscience," " studying to take for
herself every virtue that she had seen or heard of in
others, and this not for envy, but to please God in
whom she had placed all her love." And then the first
flush of girlish enthusiasm had faded, and the inevitable
reaction had taken place. The longed-for leisure for
religious exercises seemed a disappointing benefit.
Meditation, which had been so sweet when the time for

' "II padre nostro S. Francesco," she says, " diceva che piuttosto
voleva un Frate che fosse passato per via di tentazione che di dolcezze, e
consolazioni, cioe di mentali sentimenti."

S8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

it was snatched from worldly occupations, lost its savour.
Fervour in prayer was in inverse proportion to freedom
from interruption. Worst of all, attendance at the
Mass, once a precious privilege, became a tedious
obligation.

This "spiritual dryness" was undoubtedly in large
measure due to the physical unfitness of a girl in her
teens for convent life. The substitution of asceticism,
confinement, and monotony for the sunlight, freedom,
and ample nourishment needful for the perfection of
budding womanhood was a defiance of Nature's laws
which brought its own punishment. Caterina became
depressed, hysterical, nervous, and irritable. The slight-
est reproof made her miserable. "Virtues which she
used to practise with industry and fervour now seemed
impossible." Her weakness was so great that she could
not pray or even hear the office without great difficulty
and effort. Sometimes she felt "as though she could
hardly bear herself" (appena poteva supportare se me-
desima) ; and, when alone, she wept so incessantly that
in after years it seemed to her that her eyesight had
been preserved by a miracle. She believed at this time
that for a while she was given over to the power of the
Evil One, who was permitted to try her by every sort of
ambush and assault. But hand in hand with the vivid
imagination which continually materialized the spiritual
combat went the shrewdness and independence of judg-
ment which afterwards made Caterina da Bologna a
great abbess. Thus — a proof surely of common sense
rare in a medieval nun — we find her perceiving to some
extent her physical wrong-doing, and this not in old-
age retrospect, but during the midst of the " sturm und

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 59

drang " of her unnatural girlhood. Understanding, she
tells us, that her difficulties were partially the result of
intemperance in religious exercises, she began " to take
more rest, and did not continue to watch during the
night; for so much was she used to prayer that she
used to get up in her sleep and stand upright crosswise,
that is with her arms extended ; and I doubt not but
that the Enemy induced her to do this, in order that
through too much prayer he might make her go mad."

With this experience in her mind, Caterina warned
her novices against this subtle device of their " invisible
enemies," who, "finding that they cannot succeed in
dragging the Religious person from well-doing, attempt
to spur her forward with indiscreet practices beyond
the common rule. Therefore, rejecting the weapon of
discretion, in a little while she becomes weak, or falls
seriously ill ; and thus she is constrained to give up
the pursuit of prayer and of all other virtues. Where-
fore being no longer able to exercise herself spiritually,
she becomes chill, and, so to speak, unbearable to her-
self; and God is deprived of worship and her com-
panions of a good example."

The same good sense is manifest in Caterina's dream
or vision of the appearance and counsel of Saint Thomas
of Canterbury. We do not know the reason of her
peculiar devotion to the English Archbishop, or per-
ceive his special fitness for the role of teacher in the
principles of hygiene ; but it is certain that she followed
his advice to the benefit of her spiritual and bodily
health ; and in her breviary she appended the following
note to his office : —

" Oratio pro Sancte Thoma meo gloriosissimo Martyre

6o THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

tam benignissimo qui manus suas sanctissimas ostendit
mihi et osculatus sum illas dulciter in corde et corpore
meo. Ad laudem Dei scripsi et narravi hoc cum omni
veritate."

The occurrence was on this wise: Caterina had for a
long while been much tormented by drowsiness — an
effort of nature, had she but known it, to heal her tired
brain and strained nerves. She struggled helplessly
against it, till one evening she actually fell asleep as she
knelt beside the table in her cell. Presently she became
conscious of a figure in full pontificals, whom, with a
dreamer's intuition, she instantly recognized to be her
"glorious martyr." He made a sign to her that she
should watch and imitate him. Whereupon he put
himself in an attitude of prayer, then lay down and
seemed to sleep, then rose again and resumed his devo-
tions. After that he drew near to her, holding out his
hand. Caterina thought that she opened her eyes and
awoke from sleep, but that the figure of the Archbishop,
instead of disappearing like the shadow of a dream,
continued to stand solidly before her with outstretched
hand. Caterina leaned towards him and eagerly kissed
his hand, and then the vision faded before her eyes.

" From henceforth," says one of her biographers, the
Jesuit Father Giacomo Grassetti, "she used always to
remain in prayer for some time after mattins, and then
retire to rest, observing with all reverence the teaching
of the Holy Bishop."

This salutary apparition belongs to a somewhat later
stage of Caterina's life as a religious. The three visions
of her unhappy noviciate were regarded by her as the
work of lying spirits, who, under the forms of Christ

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 6i

and His Blessed Mother, laid insidious snares for her
soul. Her theory of their machinations is ingenious
and complicated. " The Devil," she warns her novices,
" sometimes puts good and holy thoughts into the mind
to deceive it by the semblance of virtue, and then
tempts strongly to the vice which is contrary to the
same virtue. And this the Enemy does that he may
drag the person into the abyss of despair." Wherefore
she begs her novices that if they be visited by appari-
tions, they should " try the spirits " before holding com-
munication with them ; and by way of example she
quotes, curiously enough, the attitude of Mary towards '
the Herald of the Incarnation : " Prendete 1' arma
della Santa Scrittura, la quale manifesta il mode che la
Madre di'Cristo quando le apparve 1' angelo Gabriello,
tenne dicendo verso di lui : Qualis est ista salutatio ? "

Weak and sleepless, and, as she herself perceived,
perilously near to insanity, it seemed to Caterina that
the Virgin Mother appeared and reproached her for
lukewarmness, saying that if she renounced an evil love
she should be given a pure love. Pondering distract-
edly over this enigmatical saying, it seemed to her that
an " evil love " could in her case mean nothing but love
of self, manifested in self-will and self-indulgence. A
growing girl, with the craving for rest and nourishment
consequent on growth, she began to find in her own
instincts and desires a confirmation of her fears, while
weariness and nervous irritability caused her to per-
form her duties ill, and made her companions accuse
her of negligence and sloth.

"The Enemy put into her heart that she was sen-
sual," she says ; and the phrase again reveals her com-

62 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

mon sense struggling with conventual temptations of a
kind unknown to men and women, married or single,
leading healthy and virtuous lives in the world ; " and
this he suggested not alone to her, but also to persons
with whom she was associated, so that she endured
much inconvenience and reproach ; and this was all the
comfort and support offered to her in her many woes.
And her suffering continually increasing, her mind
nearly gave way ; for within and without were battles."

The severest battle was with her own self-will, and this
difficulty in the matter of submission to her superiors
perplexed and distressed her greatly. For her keen
intelligence perceived that obedience was the foundation
of virtue and order in a community, the root whence
sprang that spirit of entire resignation to the will of
God, that nichilitade, which she viewed as the perfect
flower of monastic virtue.

But while her intellect recognized the beauty and
importance of obedience, she could not refrain from
" mentally grumbling at and criticizing almost every-
thing said or done by her superior." She invariably
confessed these rebellious feelings to the Mother, and
" at least she received strength not to give way to them
entirely, though violently drawn to do so." But the
continual fret and conflict wore out her nerves and ex-
hausted her spiritual forces.

Her vision of the Crucified, or rather as she afterwards
believed, of the diabolic semblance of Christ, was the
outcome of this conflict ; and the extraordinary dream-
dialogue she records is interesting as a revelation of the
struggle continually proceeding in her mind. Entering
the church one morning to pray, she thought the figure

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 63

of Our Lord, with arms extended as upon the cross,
confronted her, and addressed her as follows : —

" ' Thief, why hast thou robbed me ? Give me that
which thou hast taken from me.' Then she, with great
reverence and fear, made answer, saying : ' My Lord,
what is this thou sayest ? for I have nothing of my own,
and am poor and as naught in thy sight, and am in this
world subject to others, so that I have nothing.' And
he made answer, saying : ' I would have thee know thou
art not so poor as thou sayest, and that thou hast some-
thing of thine own ; for I made thee in my likeness and
similitude, giving thee memory, intellect, and will, and
the vow of obedience which thou madest, thou madest
it to me, and now thou takest it away from me ; there-
fore, I say unto thee thou art a thief.' And she, under-
standing that he said this on account of the disloyal
thoughts which she had in her heart against her Superior,
made answer, saying : ' Lord, what shall I do, seeing
I possess not my own heart, nor can prevent the
thoughts which enter it.' And he replied, saying : ' Do
as I tell thee : take thy will, thy memory, thy intellect,
and see that thou use them only according to the will of
the Superior.' But she said, ' How can I do this, for
I cannot withhold my intellect from discerning, nor my
memory from remembering.' He answered : ' Put thy
will into her will, and make belief that hers is thine,
and determine not to exercise the memory and intellect
in any contrary way.' But she only said she could not
do it, for she did not possess her own heart."

These visions of Christ and his Mother not only did
not help Caterina to practise obedience, but increased
her disappointment at failure, so that " many times she

64 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

would have despaired altogether had she not known that
despair is the greatest of all sins." On the other hand
they inspired her with presumption and conceit. She
longed to speak of the favours vouchsafed to her to
those who regarded her with suspicion and contempt,
and with great difficulty she bridled her tongue. Reti-
cence in respect to all her spiritual experiences was the
outcome of victory over the temptation to boastfulness,
and this, as she herself perceived, was not an unmixed
good. " Let the subject manifest her temptations to her
who bears rule," Caterina wrote long after to her novices ;
"for the hidden wound cannot be dressed nor cured.
And the more a thing seems good and safe, the more
let her reveal it, that under the semblance of good
she may not be deceived, as was the sister above-
mentioned, to whom the Enemy appeared in the shape
of Christ and his Mother." " By their fruits shalt thou
know them " was the touchstone which Caterina gradu-
ally learned to apply to all supernatural appearances.
Those which left her calm and humble she accounted
as the work of God. Those which produced presumption
and despair she attributed to demoniacal machinations.
Two anecdotes are related by Caterina's friend, Suor
Illuminata, which go far to remove surprise at the girl's
excessive reserve as well as at her difficulty in the matter
of submission. On one occasion, we are told, she was
bidden by her Superiors to jump into a large fire: she
immediately sprang forward to obey, but found herself
forcibly withheld. Another day she was actually com-
manded to leave the house, and return naked to her
mother's dwelling. She at once meekly began to divest
herself of her garments, whereupon she was informed

CATERINA'S NOVICIATE 65

that the command was merely given to prove her
obedience.

These extravagant demands on her allegiance were
possibly abnormal features in the life of the community,
final tests of vocation imposed previous to Caterina's
reception of the habit of Saint Clare. They mark
none the less an arbitrary temper and a lack of discretion
on the part of her Superiors which must have made
themselves felt in the general government of the house.
The only child of admiring parents, who never crossed
her will even, in respect to her final settlement in life,
a young lady of decided character, accustomed to lead
and to rule, it was a foregone conclusion that Caterina
dei Vigri would not find it easy to practise the virtue
she loved in theory ; while the fact that she was intel-
lectually the superior of her Superiors, and that, in spite
of her youth, she surpassed them in knowledge of the
world, naturally increased the difficulty of absolute sub-
mission. Lucia Mascheroni was a holy and amiable
person, and Caterina was much attached to "our first
mother, who, according to the divine will, received me
in this Place, and who was the first who showed me
with pure love and maternal affection the way to serve
God." She seems, however, to have been deficient in
the gifts necessary for the government of a large com-
munity. She had not herself been through the mill of
conventual training ; her household had collected gradu-
ally and was very loosely organized. Her conduct in
respect of her aunt's legacy, together with Ailisia's
rebellion, indicate vacillation of purpose and lack of
dignity and strength. It is noteworthy too that she did
not become Superior of her own foundation, nor did she

66 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

doff the Augustinian habit. After a while, indeed, she
resumed the life of pious but independent retirement to
which she was accustomed, though she certainly had no
quarrel with her successor, and at her death left the
whole of her property to the convent.

From various passages in The Seven Weapons we
gain the impression that Caterina herself recognized
that under wise guidance the misery of her irregular
noviciate might have been averted. Her exhortations
to her novices are interrupted by passionate appeals to
those who shall be Abbesses in this place " that they
diligently watch over the flocks committed to their care."
They must not wait " till the poor lamb is actually in
the wolf's jaws," but with true magnanimity of temper
they must constantly bear in mind the weakness of the
human soul and body. Aid given before it is asked for
is sweet to the sufferer and pleasing to God, for "the
thing asked for is half paid for." To those who are
tempted to be disloyal and disobedient they should
show not less but greater kindness, knowing that " the
Enemy ever pricks the servant of Christ against the
very virtue which he perceives she loves." Then again
addressing her novices, she cheers them with the assur-
ance that the submission of those who obey with diffi-
culty, doing violence to their own opinion, their own
will, their own intelligence and judgment, is not less
but more precious and beneficial than the obedience of
those who find the virtue easy. But, she adds, let the
Superior be careful not to impose on her subjects "a
burden greater than they can bear, so that good inten-
tion, which God always requires from the soul, may
always exceed the work accomplished."

CHAPTER IV
CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA"

That inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude. — Wordsworth

PROFESSED at twenty, Caterina was still very
young when she became Mistress of the Novices.
It is noteworthy that her own trials and perplexities
faded away when confronted with new interests, occu-
pations, and responsibilities. Her thoughts were no
longer concentrated on her own spiritual life, but heart
and soul, time, and wealth of tenderness were lavished
without stint on "those newly entered on the field
of spiritual battle."

Lucia's successor, the Abbess Taddea, was the sister of
the convent's friend and benefactress, Dama Verde de' Pii.
She came from Mantua, and brought a colony of nuns
with her. She was a clever organizer, and the convent
under her rule rapidly increased in numbers and prestige.
But she was a hard woman of tyrannical temper, care-
less and unobservant of the physical well-being of her
flock. Neither Caterina nor Illuminata allude to her
with affection, and the latter tells us that the exclama-
tion, " Oh that you were our Mother ! " was not in-
frequently addressed to the Mistress of the Novices by
some young nun who smarted from the Abbess's un-
sympathetic correction.

68 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Such expressions were sternly repressed by Caterina,
but were more than justified by her sisterly tenderness.
She became, in truth, serva servarum, nor would she
ever allow her novices to address her by any title mark-
ing superiority. It was for their sakes, "fearing the
Divine reproof should I conceal what might help
others," that she composed, when she was about ^ five-
and-twenty, the first draft of The Seven Weapons.

The book was written with the utmost secrecy ; for

to the shyness of the young author Caterina joined the

humility of the saint, and she was fearful of posing as

a teacher and displaying her superior education. But

secrecy in a convent of Poor Clares was not easy to

maintain. The long dormitory was divided into cubicles

only by hangings of matting, and "according to the

rule of the Blessed Francis the sisters had all things in

common," no member of the community possessing

even a box or desk where private possessions could be

stored. A woman's ingenuity, however, is not easily

baffled. Caterina's cubicle contained a large chair with

leather-covered seat. Caterina unsewed the leather,

laid her papers beneath it, and then tacked the cover

down again. She repeated the process whenever she

was moved, and found time, to write; and the book

grew apace and was larger unfinished than that which

she subsequently completed. But, alas ! one day when

she entered her cell, Caterina found the covering

of the chair unsewn. She looked for the MS. ; it was

there, but in a different position from that in which she

had left it. It had clearly been read.

1 In her preface she says: " Al tempo della nostra Reverendissima
Madre Abbadessa Suor Taddea Sorella che fii di Messer Marco de Pii,
circa gli anni del nostro Signore Messer Gesii Cristo Mccccxxxviil."

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 69

Whether a superior had played the spy or a sister
had been overcome by curiosity, whether Caterina
identified the culprit or feared, even silently, to formulate
suspicion, are matters unrevealed by her biographers.
But she was certainly filled with immense indignation,
and acted with passionate promptness. In the division
of manual labour, the oven of the convent was at this
time her province. The oven happened to be hot.
She took her precious papers and threw them in, and in
bitterness of heart she stood and watched their slow
consumption.

Another and more cheerful incident is related in
connexion with Caterina's duties as chief baker. On
one occasion, when she had just put a batch of bread
into the oven, the sisters were hurriedly collected to
listen to a spiritual discourse from an ecclesiastic
visiting the convent. The sermon lasted five hours !
At intervals the bakeress thought with anxiety of her
bread, and the moment she was released she flew to
the oven door. To the wonder of all, the bread, instead
of being burnt to a cinder, was unhurt, and when eaten
by the hungry nuns was pronounced to have a par-
ticularly agreeable flavour. The circumstance was re-
ported beyond the convent walls, and next day many
persons made application for a fragment of the loaves,
which they named, with Italian felicity of epithet, " the
bread of obedience."

Another pretty story with a similar moral is told in
connexion with her term of office as portress. Her
duties were fatiguing and occasioned perpetual calls
from prayer and meditation ; but Caterina fulfilled them

70 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

with alacrity, and like S. Francesca di Romana sub-
mitted with joyfulness to interruption and petty trials
of patience.

One day an aged man in pilgrim's dress knocked at
the convent gate. The portress opened and gave not
only alms, but kindly looks and words. His visit was
repeated, and Caterina questioned him concerning his
travels. He told her of the scenes of the Saviour's life
and death, and. assuredly no Desdemona ever listened
to an amorous traveller's tales with greater eagerness
than this cloistered nun listened to the aged pilgrim's
stories of the Holy Land.

One day he brought her a little bowl made of a
substance she had never seen before. He told her he
had brought it from the East, and that out of it the
Virgin Mother used to give her Holy Child to drink,
and he prayed the Sister-portress that she would keep
it safe for him till he should come again to claim it.
Doubtless the pilgrim "told the tale as 'twas told to
him " ; doubtless too he meant the bowl jto be a gift,
desiring to make some return for kindness and hesitating
to presume. Caterina received both bowl and words
with grateful and entire credulity ; and as the weeks
slipped by a supposition stole into her mind which
strengthened with the flight of time. The pilgrim
came no more, and the nun believed that the object of
her charity had been no ordinary man, " but possibly
S. Joseph himself." " It is not known," says Grassetti
naively, "what foundation she had for this belief, for
she never spoke of it, but probably she had some
special revelation." To-day in the convent of Corpus
Domini in Ferrara, coated without with silver for its

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 71

preservation, but within gleaming russet and satiny like
a polished diestnut,^ the " Scodella di S. Giuseppe "
is still offered to the sight and the kiss of devout
visitors.

Preaching what she conspicuously practised, Caterina
never failed to exalt the gospel of work. She would
sharply reprimand any novice who was heard complain-
ing that appointed manual labours encroached on time
which might be profitably spent on religious exercises,
declaring that she herself had more joy in mental
prayer while she sat spinning or otherwise working
with the rest of the community than when she knelt
alone in choir or cell. But while reproving indolence
she was always ready to spare the weakly by taking on
herself their burdens. Thus when she was baker, the
heat of the oven tried her health and eyesight, but it
was long before she could be induced to ask for a
change of office. Some one must do the work, she
argued, and " my sisters cannot stand such hard work
as I can ; they are young " ; — " forgetting," says Illumi-
nata, " that she herself was young."

With similar unselfishness she strove to mitigate the
severity of the rule to weakly and delicately nurtured
novices. lUuminata relates with naive admiration the
innocent subterfuges to which she resorted for this pur-
pose. She would ask at head-quarters for a couple of
eggs as supplement to the day's meagre rations, and
would carry them to her place at the long refectory
table. Watching her opportunity, she would slip the

' In substance the " Scodella " resembles closely a set of cups exhibited
in the Querini Stampaglia Palace, Venice. No one appears to have
identified the wood of which these cups are made.

72 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

eggs into a capacious pocket which she wore beneath
her gown, at the same time drawing from it some
empty egg-shells which she left ostentatiously on
the table. Later in the day the eggs found their
way into the hands and mouth of some half-starved
novice. Sometimes too Caterina would ask for meat,
ostensibly for herself, really for convalescents in the
infirmary, "that they might have no cause for com-
plaint." Such acts earned for her a reputation for
greediness, and at every visitation she was accused of
self-indulgence and reproved and punished accordingly.
But she proved an incorrigible offender.

She had a true woman's love and capacity for nursing
and for "looking after" people, and kept a little medicine
chest from which she dispensed medicines to any ailing
sister. How much one wishes that Illuminata had
given us a detailed inventory of its contents ! Caterina
had numerous patients, for the course of two centuries
had produced such deterioration in the hardihood of
Italian women that the rule of the founders, after a
fair trial, was felt to be insupportable. The daily fast
and the lack of stockings were found particularly hard
to tolerate, and sister after sister fell seriously ill. A
petition was addressed to Eugenius IV, and in February,
1446, the Poor Clares of Ferrara received the Papal
permission to mitigate the severity of their rule.

But if Caterina held that to labour is to pray, she
declared still more emphatically that to pray is to labour,
and that this labour is the chief duty and privilege of
the religious. Constant intercession afforded a vent for
her spirit of love and service, and fed its pure flame ; it
kept her sympathies from shrinking and preserved the

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 73

suppleness of her mind. Her horizon was never bounded
by the convent walls ; the ties of blood and friendship
were not forgotten ; and in spite of her strict seclusion
she became through the power of prayer a citizen of
the world. By means of this power, and by reason
of the spiritual faculties developed in its exercise, she
gained that clearness of insight, that certainty of
intuition, that triumphant faith, which the vulgar are
always apt to represent as gifts akin to magic. Thus,
in the anecdotes told of her intercessions, she often
appears in the disguise of a wonder-worker or sooth-
sayer ; but the true proportions of the yearning tender
figure cannot be obscured, while the wide range of her
sympathies is strikingly illustrated.

We begin, as is most natural, with two anecdotes
telling of her prayer for blood-relations.

Her mother, Benvenuta, as we have already seen, had
married again. Of this marriage there were two
children, — a son who in early manhood fell into vicious
courses, and a daughter who when still a mere child
entered the convent of Corpus Domini. This little
sister and spiritual daughter was very dear to Caterina's
heart. She was remarkable for her gentle piety and
religious observance; and "having in a short time
fulfilled a long time," she was the first to die in that
community, passing hence only five years after the
foundation of the new house, in the spring-time of 1437.
With a sore heart and with deep fervour Caterina knelt
by the death-bed and prayed for the departed soul ; and
behold, as she prayed, there came to her the full and
perfect assurance that little Suor Antonia was already
received into the bliss of Paradise.

74 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Fifteen years later we find her in deep distress con-
cerning the welfare of her ne'er-do-well stepbrother.
Now she had a very special admiration for that great
Franciscan, S. Bernardino of Siena, whose devotion to
the name of Jesus particularly appealed to her, and
when in May, 1451, the Frate was canonized, she
took a keen interest in the event, pictured it to her-
self, and prayed earnestly that the honour done to
God's servant might redound to the glory of the Church.
Prayer passed into ecstacy, in which time and space
were vanquished. The cell in Ferrara was left behind,
the ardent spirit had arrived in Rome. Caterina always
believed that in some mysterious manner she actually
assisted at the ceremony of canonization.

Then there awoke in her a sentiment similar to that
which Browning puts into the mouth of the innocent
heroine of The Ring and the Book. There was now a new-
made Saint in heaven, who was surely less weary and
occupied than his older much-prayed-to brethren. She
would address herself to S. Bernardino. Undoubtedly he
would join his worthy intercessions with her unworthy
ones, that the conversion of her wretched stepbrother
might be obtained. We do not know when or how her
wishes were fulfilled ; but the story ends happily with
the contrition and amendment of the evil-doer.

From kinsfolk we pass to benefactors and friends.
Caterina was deeply grateful for the steady support
given to the convent by the good Bishop of Ferrara,
Giovanni da Tosignano, who before his appointment
to the see had belonged to the Order of the Gesuati.
On the 24th July, 1446, she was kneeling in the chapel
about the hour of terce, when she suddenly rose to her

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 75

feet, called one of the Sisters, and exclaimed that she
saw the soul of the Bishop ascending up to heaven in
the form of a radiant star. The nuns noted the time,
and when a little later news of the Bishop's^ decease
reached the convent, it was found that his death-hour
corresponded exactly with that of Caterina's vision.
Another anecdote of friendship is pleasing only as
illustrating the continued affection between Caterina
and her old companions. The "Principessa Margherita"
had been for some years a widow, Galeotto Roberto
dying soon after his longed-for retirement from the
world. But a youthful widow had as little place in the
scheme of fifteenth-century society as an unmarried
maiden, and the girls of noble family were valued only
as pawns in the game of matrimonial alliance. Duke
Niccol6 happened to have an opportunity of placing to
advantage the young woman so unexpectedly returned
upon his hands, and did not think it needful to apprise
her of his schemes till the envoys of the destined
bridegroom arrived at Court to take home the bride.
She was a dutiful daughter, bien Hev^e after the standard
of the day, and endowed to boot with the Este political
instinct and aptitude for diplomacy. Her brief married
life had been very troublous, and she had no desire to
make a second essay in matrimony. Yet she wished
to oblige her father and perceived the seriousness of
breaking off negotiations at so late a stage. In great
agitation she hastened to the convent and poured the
tale of her father's schemes and her own repugnance to

' The " Diario Ferrarese" (Muratori, Vol. XXIV) informs us that the
good Bishop made the poor of Ferrara his heirs, and that the hospital of
Saint Anna had its origin in this bequest.

76 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

them into Caterina's sympathetic ears. The nun pro-
mised to pray for Divine help and guidance, and
Margherita returned comforted. That night, while
Caterina kept vigil in the convent chapel, the " Princi-
pessa" slept peacefully in her bed, forgetful of her
perplexities and of the morrow's journey. And behold,
in a dream her husband, the Beato Roberto, appeared
to her, in his Franciscan habit, and once again they
plighted their troth ; and he told her that she, who had
once been his wife after the flesh, was now and for ever-
more his bride after the spirit ; that he asked no other
dowry than her free consent, and that he would in no
wise suffer her to be pursued by another. As the
Beato Roberto had never shown anything but contempt
for his bride in life, his post-mortem airs of proprietor-
ship recall the traditional attitude of the dog in the
manger. But Margherita received comfort from them,
and knew in her dream that she was saved from the
detested second marriage, and that this was Caterina's
work.

She awoke to receive the news of the death of the
elected bridegroom, the " Personaggio grande" whose
name is the chroniclers' secret ; and untouched by
horror or uneasiness at this terrible mode of deliver-
ance, she exhibited such " incredible satisfaction " that
Duke Niccoli was moved to question her concerning
her real feelings ; and understanding them, he promised
to let her abide in widowhood and to molest her no
further with a talk of suitors.

By far the most striking and pathetic of these tales
of intercession is one which recalls the relations of a

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 77

more famous Caterina with the political prisoner of
Siena.

A wicked man of Ferrara, according to the cruel
criminal code of the day, had been condemned to be
burnt alive. We do not know his name, his life, or his
offence, how Caterina heard of his sentence, or whether
he had any claim on her interest beyond the hideous-
ness of his sentence and his own impenitence.

During the day preceding his execution, Caterina
prayed incessantly for his conversion, and when evening
fell she went to the Abbess and asked leave to spend
the night in the church. The request was granted, and
before the Blessed Sacrament Caterina continued her
labour of intercession. The mattin-bell sounded.
Caterina rose from her knees and slipped into the
choir ; but when the office ended, instead of retiring to the
dormitory, she resumed her post before the altar. The
new day dawned, and still she remained upon her knees ;
and, " Lord," she cried, " I will never rise from this
place till Thou givest me this soul. It is thine, bought
with a great price, even thy precious blood. Lord, deny
not my unworthy prayers."

Then it seemed to her that a voice came forth from
the altar : " I can deny thee no longer, I will give thee
this soul."

Caterina was still upon her knees, no longer wrestling
in prayer, but rapt in adoring expectancy, when there
came a knock at the convent gate. The criminal had
sent a messenger in hot haste to ask the prayers of Suor
Caterina, and to beg that she would send him a con-
fessor.

The Dominican Tertiary, Caterina Benincasa, could

78 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

accompany her penitent to the scaffold ; Caterlna dei
Vigri, the true-hearted daughter of Saint Francis and
Saint Clare, physically tied and bound by the " clau-
sura," could only write a letter to the man for whom she
had interceded with all the strength of her unshackled
will. In the great crises of our lives the most eloquent
of compositions is a poor substitute for the sound of a
sweet voice, the sight of a sympathetic tear, the grasp
of firm yet gentle hands. Yet even the letter of a true
woman, especially if she happens to possess the pen of
a ready writer and the calligraphy of an artist, may
convey to a lonely man something of the strength and
sweetness of her personality. Caterina's convert took
courage when he read that letter, and went to his death
like a hero. With the meek dignity of the real penitent
he accepted as his due the vituperations of the crowd,
asking those who railed on him to pardon his offences,
and take warning by his life and fate. When bound to
the stake, following Caterina's counsel, he called con-
tinually on the name of Jesus, and in the strength of
that Holy Name patiently endured his torments.

But Caterina's range of sympathy, and therefore of
intercession, was not determined by the city walls. She
had the faculty, which so many women lack, of really
caring about persons and events with whom she had no
personal concern. Hence the following anecdote.

On the Vigil of the Assumption, in the year 1443,
some very serious news reached the convent of Corpus
Domini. The civil war prevailing in Bologna was the
opportunity of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.
He had a party within the walls. Luigi dal Verme, a

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 79

valiant mercenary, was besieging it from without. It
seemed as though Bologna would once again exchange
the easy yoke of the Papacy for the heavy rule of the
Milanese.

Caterina was deeply troubled at the news. The cruel
outrages which would necessarily follow the taking of
the city by a band of greedy mercenaries were present
to her vivid imagination. With a sick heart she sought
relief in fervent prayer. And as she prayed there
came to her a conviction that the danger was passing,
that Dal Verme would be defeated, and Annibale
Bentivoglio would be his victor. A few days later all
Ferrara learned that such had been the case.^

Seven years later, when Abbess in Bologna, Caterina
foretold the downfall and expulsion of the family
whose success in 1445 had caused her such keen joy,
and whose ruin actually took place after her own
decease.

Some two years after the Milanese defeat, we hear of
another political vision. The siege of Constantinople
was known to all Italy, and filled the Ferrarese nun
with the greatest excitement and consternation. Once
more we find her keeping fast and vigil, and making
" particular prayer to God " that He would overrule for
His people's good this episode of cruel strife. But as
she prayed there came to her not this time relief, but
the certainty that her supplications were useless, that
the Turk was already in possession, that the Christian
Empire in the East had fallen. She spoke unhesitat-
ingly of her convictions, and they were only too soon
corroborated.

' The decisive battle was fought on 14 August, 1445.

So THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

But we have not yet taken the extreme measure of
Caterina's intercessory energy. Her eschatological ideas
may have been crude, but her faith and sympathy were
highly matured, and it had never been suggested to this
benighted nun that the efficacy of prayer ceases at the
grave-side. " The Office of the Dead," says Illuminata
Bembo, " was much more prolix in former days than it is
now, so that many of the sisters found it very fatiguing
to the brain." But on Caterina, even when she was ill
and weary, the thought of aiding the souls in Purgatory
acted as a tonic. " All my strength comes back," she
would say, " so glad I am to be able to give them
refreshment."

It is the intensity of this spirit of service and its
limited outlet in the life of an enclosed community
which gave rise, on the emotional side, to Caterina's
astounding, and as it seems to us almost blasphemous,
petition that she might serve as a scapegoat for the
Divine vengeance. The intellectual elements in this
desire are her strict sense of justice, and her feudal idea
of the Atonement.

The idea of substitution — of man forman, of one kind
of service for another — was inherent in the feudal system,
and even where, as in Italy, that system was but little
developed, gave a peculiar tinge to the current con-
ception of the sacrifice of Christ. Christ, as Caterina
put it, " left his high Court and Barony and became a
landless man — a pilgrim, a stranger, a beggar," in order
that He might make compensation for the debt of
reasonable service due from defaulting man to the
Almighty Suzerain. Side by side with this conception
of the Atonement went the thought of filling up that

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 8i

which is behind of the sufferings of Christ ; and the
two ideas, blended in the mystic's mind by a glow of
love towards God and towards His creatures, produced
a ferment breeding fantastic forms of self- oblation,
such as we meet with in the following passage from
the Setie Arme: —

" Many times have I prayed with tears and of
deliberate intent that God would deign to grant me
this special grace, that if my damnation could add to
the honour of his Majesty He would be pleased to con-
cede me this : — that in the bottom of the infernal abyss
(if bottom it can be said to have) He would of his
severest justice, form a yet more horrible and indescrib-
able depth, where I as the greatest and most grievous
sinner might be placed, — to expiate the guilt of all other
sinners who were or are or shall be. And for this with
hearty and deliberate will I continually offer myself,
believing that the Head will receive more joy from a
number of his members than from a single and rotten
member. For clearly in the kingdom of our God, his
praises would be greatly multiplied if to the great
company of the Blessed (Collegio dei Beati) were joined
the entire multitude of sinners; and the curse of a
single soul would be less dishonouring to thee, my God,
than that of a great multitude : albeit I am certain
that to thy majesty, most high and incomprehensible
God, no dishonour could be done. But if, O Lord, I,
unworthy that I am, may not have this favour that
through my damnation be multiplied an act of infinite
praise and thanksgiving, since the honour of the height
of thy Godhead cannot be increased ; at least most
pitying Lord, grant me this, that by my damnation all

82 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

sinners may be saved. . . . For this ceaselessly and
submissively I offer myself to the Divine Justice, pray-
ing that on me may be avenged the guilt of all other
sinners, so that their salvations may not be refused for
justice sake." ^

Caterina's conceptions of the working of Divine
justice led her astray more than once. She relates —
and the episode throws a strong side-light on her mental
processes — that during the distressful period of her
religious life, she was conscious one morning after
mattins of a slight return of interest in her devotions.
She had not experienced such a sentiment for many
months, and, encouraged by it, she remained on her
knees in the choir, when "in her heart was held a
disputation, whereby it was shown that since God had
enabled man and woman, through giving them the gift
of freewill, to choose good or evil, He was obliged, in
Justice, to reward them if they did good. And that the
Apostle Paul for this reason said that a crown ^ of justice
was laid up for him, because he had used his freewill in
doing good, rejecting the evil which he was at liberty
to do."

'Did Caterina remember the petition of Moses? — "Oh, this people
have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if
thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of
thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book."—
Exod. XXXI. 32, 33.

Cp. too St. Paul: "For I could wish that myself were accursed from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh : who are
Israelites." — Romans ix. 3.

^ Caterina's "diceva essergli riposta la corona della giustizia" is of
course a version of the Vulgate, "In reliquo reposita est mihi corona
justitiae" of 2 Timothy iv. 8. The "crown of righteousness" of the
English version is to her a "just crown," a due reward.

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 83

The idea took great hold on the poor depressed little
nun, and the consolation it inspired made her believe
that it came from God. But the following night she
worked it out to its logical conclusion, and was horrified
to discover whither it had led her. While saying
mattins she was overcome with a deadly weariness of
mind and body, and it then occurred to her that on
account of the fatigue of the office, as well as the other
hardships which she bore willingly, she ought to receive
as the meed of justice (per debito di giustizia) a higher
place than Christ, who knew no sin nor had any taint of
vice, while she, who was at liberty to sin and was
subject to sin, had nevertheless left the path of vice and
sin to exercise herself in virtue.

But she had hardly reached this conclusion before she
recoiled in terror from it. An abyss seemed to open in
front of her, and she perceived that the thought and
the consolation of the preceding night were of the
devil's sending (era missione diabolica). And forthwith
she recognized that the debt was all upon the other
side. For from God had come the gift of goodwill
which had inclined her to a right choice. "And albeit
we are at liberty to do good, yet are we none the less
obliged as a just debt to do it ; and do it we cannot
without the divine grace." Then seizing the "Second
Weapon" of Propria Diffidema she resolved to re-
member the words of Christ : " Sine me nihil potestis
facere."

Thus Caterina dei Vigri in the fifteenth century
reached the conclusion formulated by the English
reformers of 157 1 in the Tenth Article : " Wherefore we
have no power to do good works pleasant and accept-

84 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

able to God without the grace of God by Christ pre-
venting us, that we may have a good will, and working
with us when we have that good will."

It is noteworthy that Caterina's speculations on free-
will never extend to the subject of predestination. She
is unwavering in her belief that all men " start fair," and
that the Father willeth not the death of a sinner. The
hideous thought of reprobation, of " striving turned to
sin," never darkened the gloom of her time of trial.
Intellectual difficulties there were, especially doubts
concerning the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation,
and the Eucharist. The wind of free inquiry, raised by
Abelard, and laid by the Council of Sens, was beginning
to stir again, and the woman bred in the Court of
Ferrara clearly felt its influence even within the cloister
walls. Not that Caterina could ever have been a
sceptic in the modern sense, or an unbeliever after the
pagan type of the later renaissance. Her doubts were
invariably viewed as diabolical temptations ; they were
limited by a strong bias ; they were feared less because
she knew not whither they might lead her, than because
they occasioned a loss of fervour and devotion. There
is a touching passage in The Seven Weapons describing
the agony of this loss.

This "infernal penury," she declares, surpasses in bitter-
ness all the sorrows which women in the world experi-
ence from the death of those they love. For God and
Paradise lie beyond the loss of present things ; but the
religious person who has given God all her love, and
has " left for Him not only friends and relatives and all
created things but even her own self, must needs be
filled with bitter grief if she be deprived of the sense

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 85

of His love," for by reason of his infinity there is
nothing above and beyond God in which she can take
delight.

The nightmare of melancholy and doubt passed in
due time, leaving the waker, however, with the conviction
that it had been a necessary discipline for the " pilgrim
soul." There came a day when communicating without
faith or devotion, God " visited her mind," and she saw
" in a flash how and in what way it was possible that in
the Host consecrated by the priest there should be the
whole divinity and humanity of our Lord." And seeing
this, she perceived also that " the person who com-
municates with difficulty, bearing spiritual strife with
patience," "does not the less receive the grace of the
Sacrament," and that it is well that a soul should learn
not to value the sense of joy in worship above the
Giver of that gift.

It is characteristic of Caterina's combative and sturdy
temperament that this conviction was not the result of
tranquil retrospect from the vantage ground of higher
things and advancing years, but formed part of that
sudden illumination of intellect and spirit which marked
an epoch in her life. At the moment when the mysteries
of the Catholic religion seemed to grow luminous, when
the woman's finite powers of apprehension stretched
out towards infinity, when her intellect expanded to
receive the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation,
and the Real Presence, and her whole being was filled
with consolation ; — at that supreme moment she per-
ceived the value of spiritual conflict and discomfort, and
positively rejoiced in her past painful experience.

If this rejoicing were characteristic of the individual,

86 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the speedy reinforcement of intellectual apprehension
by sensuous perception was still more characteristic of
her age and country. To the blissful moment in the
church of Corpus Domini, when " all her doubts passed
away as though they had never been," succeeded a
morning when, " having received the Sacred Host in her
mouth, she felt and tasted the sweetness of the most
pure flesh of the immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus, and
that taste was of so sweet a savour as she cannot
describe or by any simile make understood. But truly
she was able to say : Cor meum et caro mea exultaverunt
in Deum vivum."

Such a sensible manifestation of the substance be-
neath the accidents has, of course, many a medieval
parallel from the Lateran Council of 1059 onwards. It
is hardly too much to say that a woman of Caterina's
training and environment must have expected some
material confirmation of these truths so recently, so
vividly, so miraculously apprehended by the intellect.
What is remarkable in her case is that the material
manifestation is secondary and subsequent to the in-
tellectual illumination. It is not the latter, but the
former revelation on which she lays stress, and which
makes a crisis in her spiritual life. Her mysticism is,
as we have seen again and again, leavened by practical
common sense, so that it never lays the will to sleep,
and limited by intellectual activity. The typical mystic's
" testimony of the individual soul " to the statements of
the creeds, which suspends intellectual processes and
makes intellectual action useless, is not sufficient to
Caterina, and when the Lord 'visits her mind' he
speaks to her intellectually." (Iddio visito la mente

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 87

sua, e parlando intelletualmente con lei, diedele aperto
conoscimento, etc.)

The days of forced and apathetic communions were
over, and Caterina's trouble was now her inability to
receive the Blessed Sacrament as often as her heart
desired. But this spiritual growing-pain passed in its
turn as her soul increased in stature. One day as she
assisted at Mass, hungry and repining, she was conscious
to the full of the sweetness and reality of spiritual
communion. (In quell' ora sentl veramente 1' anima
sua comunicarsi dalla bont^ della divina provvidenza.)

Yet the days when she received the Sacrament were
the festas of her monotonous existence. She was
apt to manifest her love of Holy Poverty by wearing
the oldest, and we fear we must add, the dirtiest clothes
of the community. But on the morning when she com-
municated she donned a clean and fair habit and dressed
herself carefully as one summoned into the presence of
a king, thus by outward act expressing the reverence
and alacrity of soul which breaks forth in passage after
passage of The Seven Weapons.

"Let no gentle spirit be so vile," she cries to her
spiritual daughters, " as not to take Him who wills to
come to you, seeing that with bounteous courtesy He
feeds you generously with His Godhead. Hasten, O
sinners, delay no more, for He is made your food that
ye may take Him." She warns her novices not to be
led by the Evil One under pretext of humility to
abstain from communicating ; and she exhorts them
to listen to the Epistle and Gospel ''with great and
fervent love, as to new letters addressed to you by your
Celestial Spouse."

88 "THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

The return of fervour in Communion diffused a glow
through all other ceremonies and devotions. When
she was saying her office with radiant face and eyes up-
lifted to the crucifix, Caterina was unmindful of all that
passed around her, so that if afterwards in chapter a
question arose about anything which had happened at
such times, Suor Caterina had seen nothing, knew
nothing. " It is not possible," she would say, " to dwell
with the angels and occupy one's self in praise and yet
have the heart on earth."

Only the extremity of weakness and pain made her
renounce attendance in the choir. From an early age
to the close of her life, she suffered from a painful and
little understood malady,^ and sometimes when the
mattin-bell sounded " it seemed impossible," says Suor
Illuminata, "that she could descend the stairs." But
taking a mouthful of food and summoning her resolution,
she generally managed to creep to the chapel, and once
there, " though faint she managed to remain." Once,
however, being particularly . weak, she begged the
mother to dispense her from attendance at Mattins.
Leave was given, and the Abbess added that it Wcis un-
necessary to apply daily for dispensation, but that as
long as the fever lasted she might remain in her cell.
The attack proved unusually prolonged ; but there came
a day when Caterina, though still weak and ill, dragged
herself wearily from her cell to attend a chapter. The
Abbess, as we have already seen, was a hard and
arbitrary woman. Perhaps she had forgotten the scope
of her permission : perhaps she thought that if Caterina
were sufficiently recovered to attend the chapter she
^ Haemorrhoids.

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 89

ought to be able to be present at the offices in chapel :
perhaps she eagerly embraced an opportunity of hum-
bling a sister whose popularity she grudged. At all
events, in presence of the whole chapter, " and this I
heard with my own ears," says Illuminata, she addressed
her as follows : —

"Sister Caterina, it pleases me not that you should
be exempt from the Office because a few days since I
gave you leave of absence. I wish you to attend
Mattins, and when you cannot, to make excuse, as do
the others."

Caterina was now one of the senior members of the
community, her conscientiousness was approved, her
devotion and also her sickness were known to all. She
merely bowed her head, and said, " Mia colpa " ; but
afterwards many of the nuns gathered round her, asking
her indignantly why she did not protest against unjust
reproof; — "Well, you are a Christian! Why did you
not say you had fever and were ill?" But Caterina
answered with gentle dignity —

"My sisters, do you not see that the Holy Spirit
spoke to me by the mouth of the mother? I under-
stand that it is His will I should go to the Office : and I
shall go believing that the strength of obedience will
aid me, and the sweetness of the Divine Office. And I
should esteem it a most solemn grace were I permitted
to die within the choir singing for the love of obedience
and of Christ."

In spite of the supreme moment of illumination and
the light which it cast over her entire subsequent
spiritual life, Caterina was subject from time to time to

90 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the grey days and the spells of apathy which are the
peculiar trial of fervent temperaments and delicate or-
ganizations, and which, in her case, were usually suc-
ceeded by reaction into ecstasy. One of these spells
of coldness occurred towards the close of the year 1445.
Her well-springs of delight seemed dried up or changed
to sources of bitterness, and she wept perpetually from
weariness and disappointment.

The Eve of the Nativity had come, and she had no
Christmas joy in her heart. From a sense of duty she
asked leave of the Abbess to spend the night in church,
when, upon her knees, she repeated the Hail Mary, in
token of reverence for the Mother of the Lord. By
degrees her coldness passed ; her normal mood of wor-
ship returned, — a mood bordering on the line where its
objects become visible or audible to the worshipper.
A more than usually severe fast, a prolonged vigil, the
eerie stillness of a night watch, and the line is passed.

" About the fourth hour of the night " — thus runs
Caterina's own account of the "marvellous grace
vouchsafed to her" — "there appeared suddenly before
her the glorious Virgin, and in her arms her dearest
Son, swaddled after the fashion of newly born
children. And drawing near to that Sister, courteously
and with great benignity she laid Him in her arms,
who perceiving by divine grace that the Babe was
Very Son of the Eternal Father, embraced him closely
(se lo strinse fra le bracci), laying her face on that
of the dear Christ Child (dolcissimo bambino Cristo
Gesu) with so much sweetness and delight that her
whole being seemed dissolved as wax before a fire. And
the sweetness of the odour exhaled by the pure flesh

MADONNA "DEL POMO"

CHArEL OF THE SANTA, CHURCH Ol-" COKPUS DOMINI, BOLOGNA

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 91

of the blessed Jesus no tongue can describe nor mind
conceive, O heart insensate, hardest of all created
things, which did not crumble away, or melt as snow
before the sun, seeing, tasting, embracing the splendour
of the paternal glory ! For this vision was no dream, nor
imagination, neither did it come through mental ex-
citement, but openly and manifestly without any phan-
tasy. But yet it is true that as she bent her face above
that of the Babe the vision suddenly faded, and she
remained so joyful that it seemed to her as though her
heart and all her members would rejoice for ever ; and
the bitter sorrow which had so long afflicted her by
reason of the absence of this same Jesus Christ left her
so completely that for a long time melancholy could
find no entrance to her heart."

Later writers speak of the odour which lingered in
the church and clung to the person of the Saint, awaken-
ing the curiosity of the nuns and of the celebrating
priest at the Mass on Christmas morning. They tell us
too of the celestial joy and beauty of Caterina's aspect ;
how the sunken eyes were lit and the sallow cheeks
flushed by that love which is "a very flame of the
Lord " ; how the lips which had kissed the Holy Child
distilled a strange fragrance ; how the skin on jaw and
chin which had touched the pure flesh of the Infant
Christ had lost its olive tint and become white as milk.
Caterina's own narrative has, however, no such sequences.
Simple and practical as ever, her only aim is to draw
out of her experience a heavenly moral.

"The inexperienced soul thinks itself deprived of
divine love when it finds that it no longer enjoys the
mental sweetness to which it is accustomed and is

92 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

deprived of the presence of the Humanity of Christ'^
(e sottratta la presenza della Umanit^ di Cristo).
Nevertheless, at this time God in occult mystery is
united to that soul in triumphant love. The proof
whereof is found in grief's very presence, for the more
the love the greater the grief. So the soul which
laments because it feels not love, in fact possesses love
and grief together : inasmuch as one does not grieve
for that one does not love. But mean souls cannot
understand this argument, because they love the gift
more than the giver. . . . Therefore, dearest Sisters,
be wise, and know how to bear with patience the
departure of the divine love : and at such times brace
yourselves to persistent prayer, and to other holy
virtues and good works, till such time as it shall please
the Divine Mercy to double the flame of pure and
chaste love within your hearts. For God having proved
the soul by leaving it widowed for a season, when He
sees it constant and faithful in spite of indigence, will
be impelled to console it and to give Himself to it
again, yea more abundantly and inseparably."

This episode in the life of Caterina dei Vigri, and the
language in which she describes it, has its parallels in
the lives of other saints and its counterparts in secular
poetry and romance. We must remember that there
are fashions in sanctity as in other things, recurring
cycles of taste in subtle and intimate correspondence
with the varying needs and tempers of mankind. We
must remember also that the trances and visions, the

' The italics are mine. The curious phrase seems to mean deprived of
the sensible presence of Christ, just as the departure of a beloved person
deprives us of the comfort of material contact with him.

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 93

miracles and ecstasies of the medieval saint are not
isolated phenomena, but translations into the sphere
and language of religion of the ideal intensity of love
manifested and described by Italian poets of the
" spiritual school " from Guido Guinicelli onwards.

A revelling in emotion, a cultivation of sensibility
and of the faculty of personification, acuteness of
physical sensation, and a tendency to reiterate certain
picturesque phrases and experiences, these are the
characteristics of the poetry and the religion of the
epoch. The groans and tears of the recluse are echoed
by the lover. The lamentations of the saint over
" spiritual dryness " are couched in the same terms as
the poet's complaints of the coldness of his mistress ;
and a sensible return to favour, human or divine, is
accompanied by overpowering emotion. The religious
kneels in cell or choir, unconscious of all save the
Divine Presence, and seeing with the spiritual eye
forms invisible to natural sight ; and the youthful
Dante in the vicinity of his Beloved is seized with
trembling palpitation and faintness and can do naught
but look upon " that most gracious being," all his senses
being overpowered by the great lordship that love
obtained. On the one hand we see the poets idealizing
and etherealizing human love till it becomes super-
sensuous, philosophic, far removed from the common-
place realities of daily life ; on the other hand we find
the mystics describing the relations of the soul to
God in terms of earthly passion. We perceive, more-
over, that this terminology helps to create and literally
represents the feeling which it designates. When, for
example, Caterina speaks of her chastity as that of the

94 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

affianced bride, of the loss of a sense of devotion as
widowhood, of her future bliss as marriage with the
Heavenly Bridegroom, it is obvious that she is not
using merely conventual figures of speech borrowed
from the Apocalypse or the Song of Solomon, but is
conveying to the reader with perfect accuracy the
peculiar quality of her sentiments. The dreams of the
Vita Nuova are as vivid and as pictorial as Caterina's
highly coloured visions of the Last Judgment or the
Court of Heaven ; while the effect of music, earthly or
heavenly, is described in much the same terms by
earthly and heavenly lovers. Saint Francis and Caterina
feel their souls drawn forth from their bodies by the
linked sweetness of an angelic chant, and declare that
death would have followed the prolongation of that
auditory joy ; and poet after poet is similarly affected
by the singing of some fair and gentle dame.*

And just as the phases of feeling pictured in the
Vita Nuova have innumerable replicas of varying merit
and degree in the lesser poets of the " New Style," so it
may be doubted whether Caterina would have had her
Christmas vision, if Saint Francis and Saint Anthony
of Padua^ had not likewise held in their arms the Holy

' As an example I select at random some lines from an unknown writer
of the fourteenth century : —

Ed ella pur cantava.
Onde 1' anima mia, che ci6 sentia
E che vedfa — in amor lo cor languire,
Per gran paura pallida stridia,
E se ne gia — lasciandomi finire.
lo gridava merze, per non morire,
Piangendo forte. Ed ella pur cantava.

" Another Franciscan, Fra Salimbene of Parma, well known as a
chronicler, had a very similar vision.

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 95

Child. She was doubtless familiar with the story of
these experiences ; they formed for her the high-water
mark of divine favour. In spite of her humility, she
must have felt that what had been might be again.

Even had we not been expressly told that such was
the case, it would have been a foregone conclusion that
Caterina, like Saint Francis, desired greatly to appre-
hend the bitterness of the Passion of the Lord Jesus.
And once again we note that this desire sprang from a
conviction shared by earthly lovers and expressed with
equal fervour in the religious and secular literature of
the time. Love is a " Lord of Terrible Aspect," ^ to
whom due tribute must be paid. Love is a " Flame of
the Lord," scorching those who approach it. The story
of Cino da Pistoia and the hot coals may be made
ridiculous ; it may also be received as a parable.

The sufferings of Love are not merely willingly
borne ; they are actually desired. And the thought of
pain as the concomitant of intense bliss finds its
culminating expression in the phenomenon of the
stigmata. When we read the impassioned words in
which Caterina describes her "Fourth Weapon,"
Memoria Passionis, and recollect that the Poverello's
marvellous experience seems to have been more than
once repeated, it is almost surprising to find that her
intense desire to apprehend the suffering of Christ
should be satisfied through the intellect and not
through the flesh.

As a revelation of the mystery of the Eucharist
came to her primarily through the mind, and only
secondarily through the senses, so it seemed to her that

' Vita Nuova.

96 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Christ spoke to her intellectually (parlava intelletual-
mente) concerning his sufferings for the salvation of
the world ; and it is very noteworthy that in a resumd
of this parlamento the physical pain of the crucifixion
is passed over in few words, while stress is laid on the
long agony of anticipation arising from foreknowledge,
and especially from foreknowledge of man's ingratitude
and the grief of the Virgin Mother. This is a remark-
able conception at an epoch when the physical sufferings
of Christ, of the martyrs, of the souls in Purgatory or
in Hell, are set forth in literature and in art in the most
brutal, crude, and realistic manner.

The conditions of a life of which the one great work
is intercession, and the sole reward celestial sweetness,
must needs be complete release from secular interrup-
tions, luxuries, and cares. Poverty and seclusion were
essential to Caterina's ideals ; and accordingly we find
her striving with all her might for the introduction of
the strict clausura and the maintenance of Franciscan
destitution.

When she was professed, she gave an ample donation
as her " dowry " to the house ; the rest of the large
fortune inherited from her father she bestowed on the
poor. The proposal made when she was mistress of
the novices, by a party in the convent, that the com-
munity should no longer be dependent on the daily
alms, but should acquire landed property, filled her
with indignation and dismay. She arose in chapter,
and spoke her mind with a passionate and convincing
eloquence which turned the scale in favour of Holy
Poverty. No r^sum^ of her discourse can convey its

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 97

flavour, and it therefore seems well to give a but slightly
abridged translation.

"Dearest Sisters, I marvel much how it is possible
that among cloistered persons like those here present
who profess to follow the standard of our seraphic father,
Saint Francis, there should be souls so blind that they
fail to recognize that this is most manifestly a tempta-
tion of the Devil, who is a spirit of infidelity, and of
inexcusable distrust of God. I should like those who
are so prudent, according to the world, and who hold
that our present mode of life cannot long continue, to
tell me where they have learned such doctrine, and on
what reasons it is founded. Who will cause such a
thing to happen ? Will our Lord God, who has brought
us together in this place, be unable or unmindful, or —
as though he were sick of the trouble of governing us
(fastidito dalla lunga molestia del governarci) — indis-
posed to continue to provide for our needs ? Has He
not many times praised and commended Poverty?
Did He not say: 'Blessed are the poor'? And to
another : ' Go sell what thou hast and give to the poor ;
and when thou art become poor, come and follow me,
and I will make thee to have treasure in Heaven'?
Did He not say : ' Whosoever for my love shall leave
father, mother, possessions, and everything else, shall
receive a hundredfold in this world, and in the next the
possession of the Kingdom of Heaven ' ? If He com-
manded His disciples not to be careful for what they
should eat or what they should drink, and to take no
thought to procure clothes to cover the nakedness of
their bodies, but to leave all care to the heavenly
Father, who knew that they had need of these things.

98 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

to strive only to acquire virtue, and to aspire to the
Kingdom of Heaven ; who will be so impertinent as to
dare to argue that He who faithfully promises, and
who cannot lie, will fail to observe His own word ? For
my own part, I do not know with what face a person
can dare to call himself a Christian — Christ having
said : ' Seek first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness ' and these other things shall be given you
in addition, — who is not ashamed to say that a congre-
gation of persons who have deliberately left the world
and dedicated themselves to God's service cannot for
long maintain themselves lacking provision for liveli-
hood. Will that God who provides for the birds of the
air, and who clothes and adorns the flowers of the field,
be so improvident as to allow a household, formed for
the honour of His Divine Majesty, to be injured for
lack of sustenance? . . .

" How many monasteries of men and of women, of
our own Order and of others, have long persevered in
this kind of life, and still do persevere ? What they
can do why cannot we do likewise with the help of the
divine grace? It seems to you that if this monastery
had some estates (poderi) and possessions of its own,
whence every year it might draw abundant rents, we
should ensure the livelihood of ourselves and our distant
successors. What foolishness is this to place more
confidence in a few acres of ground (campi di terra)
than in God's promises. And tell me : if this land
should fail to produce its usual fruit, or if through war,
famine, or tempest you should fail to receive the rent
which you expect (which would be no new nor extra-

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" 99

ordinary thing in this world), what would you then be
obliged to do ? You could do naught but appeal to
the Divine Mercy that the hearts of the citizens might
be moved to provide you with necessary sustenance.
Now what hinders you from doing always what you
could do in case of need ? . . .

"Poverty spurs us to devotion, for it compels us
always to have recourse to God that He may provide
for us. Poverty removes from us occasions for disputes
and dissensions such as are continually provoked by
'Mine and Thine,' those cruel enemies of fraternal
charity. Poverty creates detachment from the world
and from the things of this life ; for nobody is greatly
tempted to love that which he does not possess, but in
truth it is very difficult to have no affection for the
goods in which one is engulfed. Poverty multiplies our
merits in this world and acquires for us inheritance in
the Kingdom of Heaven.

" Thus you may clearly perceive by what spirit those
are guided who under pretext of providence and pru-
dence go about disturbing the Sisters and filling the
minds of the most simple with vain humours."

Caterina's eloquence prevailed. The convent of
Corpus Domini acquired no landed property.

She got her way, too, with reference to the strict
clausura, not this time by a single battle, but by
steady gentle resistance and patient watching of oppor-
tunity.

Though Lucia's community had deliberately chosen
the "strict observance," and though the first Abbess,

loo THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Mother Taddea, was in many respects a rigid discipli-
narian, there remained considerable freedom of inter-
course between the inmates of the convent and their
relatives in the city. "The citizens of Ferrara," says
Grassetti, "would in no wise permit the house to be
thoroughly locked up, because they wished to be able to
go in and out at pleasure, and to visit their daughters,"
and they urged that " in all cases of distress and diffi-
culty they found comfort in this intercourse." It is not
suggested that any scandals arose out of this liberty,
but to Caterina it seemed, as we moderns would say,
the wrong thing. Herself a tender daughter, a good
sister, a faithful friend, she believed that the nun's
real use to her family and to society was in inverse
proportion to her intercourse with them. By opening a
door to gossip and tittle-tattle, the spiritual tone of the
community was lowered, and time and energy were
frittered away which should have been devoted to
prayer.

But till Mother Taddea died, after a reign of twenty
years, Caterina's flame of reform consumed its own
smoke. The vacant throne was her opportunity. She
turned to Lucia Mascheroni, still a power in the affairs of
the convent, and besought her to use her influence with
the controlling Fathers and induce them to import an
Abbess from a strict community. The facile Lucia
assented ; but when she found that the Fathers had
other views she assented with equal ease to these also.
They had determined to choose the new Abbess from
the senior members of the community, and of these
none appeared more suitable than Suor Caterina her-
self.

CATERINA THE PROFESSED "CLARISSA" loi

Caterina was summoned before the Committee of
Election, and the why and wherefore of the summons
were unfolded. For a few moments she remained
stupefied and speechless : then she burst into tears.
Falling on her knees she besought the electors to spare
her, to assign her any subordinate office, however toil-
some, in the house, but not to lay on her the heavy
burden of rule. The committee, probably embarrassed
by her emotion, and perhaps convinced by it that she
was indeed not suited to the task, listened to her en-
treaties and considered her counter-proposals. In
April, 1452, a bull was obtained from Pope Nicholas V,
authorizing the transportation of an abbess and several
sisters from the convent of Poor Clares in Mantua, to
the end that the discipline and observance of the con-
vent of Corpus Domini, in Ferrara, should be rendered
more strict.

Doubtless the task of the new Mother was not an
easy one. We are told of some slight resistance from
without ; we can conjecture some slight discontent
within. But the infusion of new blood, enforced by the
influence of Caterina and her friends, told in the end.
The old easy coming and going of kinsfolk ceased.
Henceforth the professed nun was seen only at stated
hours behind the parlour grate.

The four years (1452-6) which passed between the
establishment of this new regime and Caterina's de-
parture from Ferrara, were probably the happiest of
her life. The struggles of youth lay behind her ; the
responsibility of her last years was still unforeseen.
Her ideal of conventual order was fulfilled, and she was
at length in thorough sympathy with her Superior,

I02 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Instead of humbling her in chapter, after the manner of
tyrannical Mother Taddea, Mother Lenore continually
asked the opinion and deferred to the advice of the
gentle nun, whom, in the July of 1456, she enthusiasti-
cally described to the Bolognese envoys as " a second
St. Clare."

CHAPTER V

THE NEW COLONY

Spirit nearing yon dark portal at the limit of thy human state,
Fear not thou the hidden purpose of that Power which alone is great,
Nor the myriad world, His shadow, nor the silent Opener of the gate.

Tennyson.

THE convent of Corpus Domini in Ferrara had
become fashionable. Ladies of high rank from
distant parts were clamouring for admission and waiting
disconsolately for vacancies ; till at length it occurred
to certain leading citizens of Bologna and Cremona
that the " venerabile monaster© " might be induced to
colonize, and that plantations of Poor Clares might be
established in their midst.

The moving spirit in Bologna was a certain Battista
Mezavacca, who had two daughters in the convent at
Ferrara, and whose son was Provincial of the Observant
Friars. The Third Order took up the matter, and
resolved to furnish the colony with a home, and on the
twentieth of July, 14S3, the prospective foundation was
formally endowed with a house, church, cloister, campa-
nile, and bell. But the Legate Cardinal Bessarion was
a shrewd man, and foresaw the popularity of the house.
He declared that the premises bestowed by the Third
Order were far too limited, and induced the Girolamites

103

I04 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

of Fiesole to part with the church, cloister, and pos-
sessions of S. Cristoforo delle Muratelle which belonged
to them. The parochial cure was then transferred to
one of the neighbouring churches, while the nuns'
procurator purchased an adjacent house, court, stable,
and well. In October, 1455, the Pope gave his formal
approval to the scheme ; and in November, according
to the Bolognese historian Ghirardacci, the Commune
began the building operations necessary for the housing
of a community, and the welding of two detached
properties into an enclosed quadrangle.

Nothing now was left but to select and bring home the
" suore " ; and during the winter and spring months of
1455-56, the dovecot in Ferrara was fluttered by the
exciting knowledge that some among them would soon
go forth to return no more. There seems to have been
a consensus of opinion that Caterina should be one of
the colonists, but the prospect of leaving the house
which had been her home for so many years was
excessively alarming and distasteful to her. Neverthe-
less, resigned in all things to the Divine Will, she
prayed earnestly for a clear revelation of God's purposes
concerning her, and resolved to keep the Lenten fast
with special devotion and austerity.

But the result of an exclusive diet of "pancotto" —
bread soaked in water and beaten to a pulp — seasoned
with mental agitation, was a complete failure of physical
strength. Caterina was compelled to keep her bed, and
the nuns began to doubt whether she would ever leave
it. Bodily weakness, however, did but increase the
activity of her mind. She meditated constantly and
with fresh fervour on the mystery of the Passion of

THE NEW COLONY 105

her .Saviour, and prayed without ceasing for a direct
manifestation of His Holy Will.

But when an answer to her prayers came she did not
at first recognize it as such. She dreamed a dream in
which she saw two stately seats adorned as for some
great persons. " For whom are these prepared ? " she
asked. And the reply was made that they were for
two Sisters, and that the more honourable was for Suor
Caterina da Bologna.

She woke with a clear remembrance but no under-
standing of the vision, — a fact which the good folk of
Ferrara, when they claimed her for their own, dwelt on
with justifiable satisfaction. Caterina was a common
baptismal name; the "cognome" of Vigri was Ferrarese;
Caterina da Bologna was as yet non-existent.

The colonizing nuns were more fortunate than most
of the brides of the period, whose splendid nuptials
were usually arranged for mid-winter, and whose
journeys were therefore fraught with extreme hardship
and peril. It was on a burning summer's day, July 20th,
1456, that a little company of grave gentlemen and
religious presented themselves before the doors of the
convent of Corpus Domini in Ferrara and demanded
speech with the Reverend Mother. There was the
Vicar-General of the Strict Observants with the Minister
of the Province of Bologna, who came of the great
Fantuzzi house. There was Battista Mezavacca, Doctor
of Law, who had been so active in founding the new
convent and who was doubtless eager to see his two
cloistered daughters; and there were besides many
representatives of honourable Bolognese families, whose

io6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

names, says Father Grassetti, " are lost by reason of his
defect who recorded these things with small accuracy."

The veiled Abbess, Mother Leonardo of the great
family of the Ordelafi of Forli, duly received the com-
pany, who presented the bull of Pope Callixtus III.,
and prayed her to give them a ruler for their new
foundation. She answered, as has already been related,
that she would give them a second Saint Clare, a true
disciple of the Blessed Saint Francis. The ambassa-
dors -withdrew and a chapter was convened. In that
chapter Caterina dei Vigri was unanimously chosen
as leader of the colonising nuns and Abbess of the
Bolognese house.

The decision of the chapter was reported to the
expectant Provincial : he inquired as to the family and
past history of the abbess-elect, and hearing with great
satisfaction that she was born in the city to which she
was about to migrate, he ordered that she should hence-
forth formally describe herself as Caterina da Bologna.

Caterina's vision was now clear to her, but her sorrow
at leaving Ferrara was doubled. Reluctance and pro-
testations of unworthiness form the approved attitude
of the religious appointed to high office; but in
Caterina's case they were certainly genuine and spon-
taneous. She had always shown herself conspicuously
devoid of ambition and of that restless desire for
authority so strong in many able women ; and she was
at this period in such feeble health that many of her
friends doubted whether she could even bear the com-
paratively slight fatigue of the journey to Bologna. It
was made as easy and comfortable as possible. The start
was arranged to take place at midnight in order that the

THE NEW COLONY 107

nuns might be sheltered from the heat of the July sun
and from the gaze of curious folk, and a litter was pre-
pared in which the invalid could be carried the few
yards down the lane to the main road where the coach
of the " Principessa Margherita " ^ was to be in waiting.
Caterina was hardly conscious of these preparations
for her comfort, or of the moment when she crossed
the threshold of the house she had entered in her
long-past youth. She was completely overcome with
the emotions of the leave-taking; and when her friends
lifted the senseless form into the coach, they congratu-
lated themselves on being provided with a consecrated
candle.

But the cool night air, the ministrations of her
beloved friend Margherita, the unaccustomed novelty
of the situation, worked what seemed to her com-
panions a miracle. Colour came back to the ghastly
face, strength to the powerless limbs, and when the
lumbering vehicle came to difficult places in the deeply-
rutted fifteenth-century road, Caterina descended with
the rest and walked gaily forwards. Whereat the
hearts of her escort were filled with comfort, for they
felt that she was evidently called and chosen for the
work of God in Bologna.

Before long the jolting coach-road was exchanged for
the smooth and easy water-way, which formed the most
expeditious route from Ferrara to Bologna, in spite
of the " interruptions of the sluices, inventions to raise

' Margherita must have been visiting her relatives in Ferrara or have
come expressly to bid her friend farewell, for since 1449 she had been
living at the Court of Sigismondo Pandolfo, her brother-in-law. She died
in Rimini in 1475.

io8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the water for the use of mills and to fill the artificial
canalls," which were bitterly complained of by the
English traveller, Evelyn, when, two centuries later, he
made the journey in inverse direction. Caterina, journey-
ing in high summer, was not, like Evelyn, '' so pestered
with these flying glowworms called luccioli, that one
who had never heard of them would think the country
full of sparks of fire." Nevertheless, used to long vigils
and stirred by strange emotions, she did not sleep. She
indited some necessary letters and conversed a little
with her escort ; but for the most part, with her cloak
wrapped closely round her ^ and raised above her black
veil, she sat silent. Who can tell the thoughts and
emotions of those hours of darkness and dawn ? How
suddenly the current of her life had been diverted into
a new and untried channel ! With what celerity she
had been hurried from the place which had been her
home for nearly thirty years ! How speedily the
Bolognese envoys had executed their long-prepared
measure ! And now she must look forwards rather than
backwards. Moment by moment the stream and fate
were bearing her away from the old estate of subjection
towards the new estate of authority. Yet in the act
they gave her a breathing space, a time when she might
possess her soul and rally her physical and spiritual
forces. She had leisure to steep her spirit in the elixir
of the summer night, whose scents and sounds came to
her laden with forgotten memories, stirring sensations

' Father Grassetti says: "Then Caterina from humility placed the
cloak over the black veil, and was at once imitated by all the company ;
and from thence began the custom of the Mothers of the Corpus Christi of
Bologna to wear the cloak over the black veil, which custom they have not
in Ferrara, where the black veil covers the cloak on the shoulders."

THE NEW COLONY 109

which were new and old, while the great open spaces
of the plains spoke strongly to one who had long been
imprisoned within narrow walls.

Dawn found the woman who had left Ferrara
trembling, weeping, scarcely conscious, strong, calm,
and alert, ready to bear with meekness and dignity the
burdens and the honours laid upon her.

They were considerable. The moment the election
of the Chapter was announced the envoys had dispatched
a messenger to the Senate, informing the citizens of
Bologna that they had obtained for Abbess " that Suor
Caterina who had held in her arms the Infant Jesus."
The story of the nun's Christmas vision was widely
known, and the good folk of Bologna were inclined to
be " in all things too superstitious." They required no
further testimonials, and determined to give the person
thus distinguished a welcome after their own hearts,
being, both then and always, " a people most courteous,
liberal, and magnificently generous in such external
demonstrations of compliment."

The days were very evil. Sante Bentivoglio was
sufficiently powerful to hang his foes, but not powerful
enough to have undisputed sway. Family feuds were
embittered and complicated by enmity between the
aristocracy and people, and, as Grassetti naively remarks,
the authority of the Holy See was not " an adequate
, remedy for these dissensions, nor that of the legates,
who had not at that time absolute dominion." But for
the moment anarchy and dissension ceased, and enemies
united to give a welcome to the holy women who were
coming to them in the name of the Lord.

Thus it came to pass that when Caterina and her

no THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

companions reached Corticella, where the navigable
channel ended, they found awaiting them upon the
bank, lit by the glow of sunrise, a company of Bolognese
matrons with their attendant knights, who had ridden
forth three miles to meet them. The nuns were greeted
with as much respect as though they had been princesses,
and with Margherita d'Este — who was determined not
to leave her friend till she saw her safely housed — were
conducted to chariots, in which they proceeded towards
the city. But before they reached it, they were met by
another train of welcomers — the Legate, the wise
Greek, Cardinal Bessarion, with the Bishop of Bologna,
Cardinal Calandrino, brother of Pope Niccol6 V,
accompanied by the sixteen senators and the chief
clergy and officers of the city, and followed by a jubilant
crowd in festal temper and array, were waiting without
the Porta Galliera. By this procession the nuns were
conducted to the temporary abode prepared for them
by the charity of certain members of the Third Order
of S. Francis. Italian workmen in the fifteenth century
were not unlike their descendants in the twentieth ; and
the new house, contrary to all hopes and expectations,
was not ready for its inmates. Caterina and her com-
panions were therefore lodged in the dwelling which
had originally been oifered for their use — the little
hostel and church of Saint Anthony of Padua in the
Via d' Aziglio.

For the remainder of the day they were left in peace;
but before taking food or rest they proceeded to the
church, and there gave thanks to the Giver of all good
for the kindly welcome accorded to them, beseeching
a blessing on their benefactors and on their new home.

THE NEW COLONY iii

They were not allowed at once to resume their
habitual routine. The two Cardinals decreed that for
three days the Abbess should " receive," in order that all
the principal persons of the city should have the oppor-
tunity of making acquaintance with the Sisters. This
was an eminently prudent measure, as Father Grassetti
points out ; for the community was dependent on the
charity of the faithful, who being " incredibly edified by
these ladies' rare modesty and truly religious mode of
life," went away with quickened generosity and loosened
purse-strings. The Abbess's gracious bearing and gentle
dignity, her courtesy, her capacity, her ready and per-
suasive speech, were extolled by all. In spite of long
years of retirement, silence, and self-effacement, her
inherited instincts, her early training, her old habits,
asserted themselves. During her three days' reception,
Caterina dei Vigri showed herself endowed with all the
social gifts which distinguished the great ladies of the
renaissance.

The Abbess prudently decreed that no novices should
be admitted during the intense heat of the Bolognese
summer, and for five weeks the little company tranquilly
endured the August sun, and enjoyed a halcyon period
of undisturbed intercourse and freedom from responsi-
bility. For they were all tried persons and old friends,
sure of themselves and each other, broken in to conven-
tual life, knowing their duties and earnest in fulfilling
them.

First and foremost among them was the noble
Venetian lady, Illuminata Bembo, whose Specchio
d' Illuminatione is the " Urquelle " of every life of the

112 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

" Santa." She had been with Caterina in Lucia Mas-
cheroni's semi- religious community, and when others
doubted her vocation, believing that a fine^ lady used to
Venetian luxury, gaiety, and culture would soon weary
of so hard, narrow, and restricted a life, Caterina had
always strengthened her resolution and prognosticated
her perseverance. In 1433 the two friends took the
Franciscan habit, and their loving companionship was
close and unbroken till "the day Caterina died, and
Illuminata discovered, with that pang of sweet remorse
which so often rends the true friend and lover, that
after all she had never appreciated the lost blessing :
" Alas, a thousand times alas ! " is her exceeding
bitter cry, " that such was my blindness, I did not know
the greatness and sublimity of this most excellent
soul."

The next two senior nuns were Suor Giovanna of the
Lambertini of Bologna, and Suor Anna Morandi, a
widow, of Ravenna, both of whom had entered the
convent in Ferrara a few months after its foundation.

Then there were Doctor Battista Mezavacca's two
daughters, — Paola, a tall, fine woman whom Caterina
had chosen to be mistress of the future novices, and
Gabriella, who entered religion eight years later, and in
a manner which, pace Father Grassetti, seems to us
somewhat reprehensible. Mezavacca, a pious, learned,
wealthy, and much -respected Bolognese citizen, had
a large family of sons and daughters, who, as soon as
they grew to manhood and womanhood, one after
another renounced the cares and perils and pleasures of
the world and embraced a monastic life. Gabriella, the
youngest, at length found herself alone. She was her

THE NEW COLONY 113

father's pet and housekeeper, and would surely be the
prop and stay of his old age and the mother of his
heirs. He did not guess that her young gaze was
already turning from the glare and colour of the world
towards the peaceful greyness of the cloister, and pious
man as he was, the girl felt intuitively that he would
not let her go without a struggle. She had not the
moral courage to endure it, and determined to escape
it and to effect her purpose by a ruse. Feigning a great
desire to see her sister Paola, she set out for Ferrara
arrayed in her best clothes, and accompanied by a gay
party of friends and relatives. When they reached the
convent she asked them to leave her for a while as she
wished to talk alone with her sister. The natural
request was readily granted. But when the party
called at the convent doors a few hours later, Gabriella
came to the grating in the habit of a " Clarissa," and
bade her companions go back to her father and tell him
she should return no more. Mezavacca nearly died
of grief at the intelligence ; but wonderful and pleasing
to relate, he bore no malice against his daughter in
particular, or the religious orders in general. He was
foremost in promoting the foundation of the new
convent in Bologna, his zeal being perhaps inspired by
the hope of bringing his children back to their own
city.

Another pair of Bolognese sisters were Suor Ber-
nardina and Suor Anastasia Calcina. The former was
married, but had agreed to separate from her husband
that both might " enter religion." Suore Eugenia
and Pacifica Barbieri, kinswomen, were also Bolognese,
as was Suor Pellegrina dei Leonori. Suore Samari-

114 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

tana, Modesta, and Innocenzia were Ferrarese; while
a certain . lachrymose Suor Andrea was from Cremona.
Then there were two lay Sisters and one Terzina, or
member of the Third Order — even Bernardina, Caterina's
mother, who, a widow for the second time, had latterly
devoted herself to serving the house in Ferrara, and now
gladly accompanied her daughter to their native city.

On the 2 1st September this little band of colonists
received its first new recruits. Six young ladies of
Bologna were admitted as novices.

The Abbess was now eager to move into permanent
quarters before the approach of winter. She constantly
besought the procurators of the monastery to hasten
forward the work, and fervently prayed to God that He
would dispose the hearts of the citizens towards the
convent and its inmates. And her importunity pre-
vailed and her prayers were answered. Funds came in
steadily ; building went on apace ; and at length one
November night the nuns were transferred from the
Hostel of Saint Anthony to the Abbey of Saint
Christopher, which was henceforward known as the
Convent of Corpus Domini.

In her first Chapter Caterina sounded the predominant
notes of her rule. In it she proposed five measures,
which had been matured with much consideration and
earnest prayer, and which were unanimously accepted
by her devoted company. First, it was ordained that
the ancient custom of having all things in common
should be faithfully observed ; and further that the
community should hold no property other than their
dwelling-place, and should subsist wholly on the daily
alms of the citizens.

THE NEW COLONY 115

Secondly, the clausura was to be observed with the
same strictness as at Ferrara. Not only might no
nun go out, but no outsider might come in, albeit guests
were at that time tolerated in many other well-ordered
and reputable convents. Furthermore, to distourage
intercourse between the nuns and curious visitors, it
was decreed that the gratings in the parlour should be
covered with thin black linen, Caterina rightly believing
that the worldly ladies whose conversation was most
likely to be perilous and unsettling to her flock, would
not long care to converse with persons who could
neither see nor be seen.

While in her first law Caterina maintained the
Franciscan principles of poverty, in her third she
imitated the Franciscan practice of gratitude. The
Senate had exempted the convent from dazio, so that
gifts from the surrounding country reached it duty
free. It had also made ogni anno in ptrpetuo a liberal
grant of salt ; while the citizens in general had liberally
contributed towards the fund for building and mainten-
ance. Caterina, therefore, mindful of the example of
S. Francis, who had annually presented a basket of fish
to the Benedictines to whom he owed the church of
Santa Maria degli Angeli, ordained that the convent
should every year present a corporal to the cathedral
of Bologna in token of perpetual gratitude for the
hospitality of the city.

The fourth regulation related to costume. "As a
public sign of modesty and humility," as well as to
avoid "abuses and opportunities of vanity such as
exist in certain convents by reason of the elegance and
coquettishness of veils and collars," it was ordained,

ii6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

that in the choir, when called to parley at the gate, and
when receiving tRe Bishop or other prelates, the nuns
of the monastery of Corpus Domini should always wear
the cloak above the black veil, after the fashion set by
Caterina herself during the journey from Ferrara.

The fifth and last regulation passed in Caterina's first
Chapter declared that there should never be prisons in
the convent, because she " trusted that by God's mercy
no faults should be committed in that holy house
deserving so rigorous a punishment."

The first few months after the move were busy and
difficult ones for the Abbess. To " get into a new
house" was not indeed to a fifteenth-century family,
still less to a company of religipus, quite the serious
undertaking that it is to a modern householder. But
Bologna, then as now, was notorious for its winter snow,
and a half-finished building, then as now, was cold and
uncomfortable ; while if the nuns' wants were few their
means of supplying them were fewer, dependent as
they were on the alms of the faithful with whom they
had little direct communication. Hardships were cheer-
fully endured, for Caterina inspired all her " daughters "
with her own pluck and esprit de corps, but the health
of the community suffered. The infirmary was soon
full, and the Abbess, though untiring in her efforts,
found it difficult to provide for the necessities of the
sick. But the presence of certain physicians is as
remedial as their prescriptions, and Caterina's per-
sonality and skill and devotion as a nurse largely
atoned for her lack of material resources. The first
thing in the morning and the last thing at night she

THE NEW COLONY 117

visited her sick. She was, besides, always present during
the doctor's visits, after which she would retire a while
to the church, there " to take counsel with her heavenly
spouse," from whence she would return serene and
reassuring to the infirmary. And to some, Grassetti
quaintly says, " she spoke words of so great consolation
that they were perfectly conformed to God's will," and
to others she applied the prescribed remedies with a
success quite unlooked for by the physicians themselves,
so that before long she sent them whole and rejoicing
to the church to give thanks for recovery to God. To
the power of the Great Physician, flowing through the
channel of the medical science of the day, Caterina con-
stantly and unwaveringly attributed these cures. But
in vain ; for on the one hand her assertion was a half-
truth, and the sick rightly perceived that their recovery
was due to their nurse rather than to their doctor, and
on the other the ignorant always more readily believe
in occult and magical power than in the truly super-
natural effects of faith, sympathy, and self-forgetful
love. Little by little an atmosphere of enthusiasm and
credulity was created. Miracles were expected of the
strong and tender woman who lived spiritually and in-
tellectually on a higher plane than the majority of her
companions. Miracles were expected — and therefore
miracles happened.

Three are specially recorded, and are worth narrating
as examples of the Abbess's dealings with her " beloved
daughters," and of the way in which they were inter-
preted and misinterpreted.

First in order of time comes the healing of Lucia
Codagnelli, one of the first six novices admitted in

ii8 [,THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Bologna. To her, in the distribution of offices, was
assigned the care of the garden. She was apparently
absent-minded or unskilful, for one day, when engaged
in digging, she sent the spade or hoe with such force
into her own foot as nearly to sever it from the ankle.
Her screams of pain and terror speedily drew her com-
panions to the spot, where she lay upon the ground
bleeding copiously. They were fifteenth-century nuns,
and had not attended ambulance classes. They were,
moreover, Italian women, emotional, sensitive to suffer-
ing, and easily thrown off their balance. " Not know-
ing what to do," says Grassetti, "they betook themselves
to weeping, the common remedy of women and chil-
dren."

Then Caterina appeared, self-possessed, self-reliant ;
and the storm of hysterical emotion at once subsided.
She had, as we have already seen, the instincts of a
nurse. From her girlhood she had delighted to serve
the sick, schooling herself against disgust and nausea,
and ardently performing all distasteful offices. The
sight of blood did not therefore alarm or distress her
now. She knelt by the sufferer, and addressed her
with gentle, reassuring playfulness : " Sister Lucia, wilt
thou make me a present of this foot ? "

Then, making the sign of the cross over the wounded
limb, she took the poor leg in her left hand, and with
her right drew the half-severed foot into place. The
limb instantly became whole as before. Whereupon
Caterina said, smiling —

" I entrust this foot to you. Sister Lucia, on condition
that, as it belongs to me, you will for the future use it
well, taking care that you do it no harm whatever."

THE NEW COLONY itg

Lucia wept again, and promised to do as she was bid ;
the nuns were " incredibly edified," and soon all the city
knew that a very notable miracle had been worked by
the holy Abbess of the new convent.

It is noteworthy that there is no mention of this
" miracle " in the " Mirror " of Illuminata Bembo. Yet
the story is so natural and circumstantial it seems
reasonable to suppose that the accident and the cure
actually took place. To bring them into line with one
of the famous miracles of Saint Anthony of Padua —
whose life was, of course, familiar to all members and
friends of the Franciscan Order — it was only necessary
to be blind to such unsightly details as bandages and
unguents, and to compress into a single moment a
process which, it is likely enough, was remarkably
short, the nun being a spare liver, a worker in the
open air, and an implicit believer in Caterina's skill.

The second miraculous story is of a novice "much
worried by the Devil in various disguises, so that she
was reduced to despair by reason of most vehement
temptations, occasioned by the rebellion of the flesh
against the decrees of the spirit." Prayer and morti-
fication seemed to avail nothing; nay, the more she
used these weapons the more increased the diabolical
attacks.

At length the tortured and despairing woman went
to the Mother Abbess and made a clean breast of her
pitiful condition. And the Abbess "smiled a little."
She was neither shocked nor horrified ; but with a
cheerful face said quietly —

" Will you do at once what I tell you ? "

I20 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

" I will do anything I can and at once," cried the un-
happy novice. Then said the Abbess —

" Go, take up the book you see there, and on the first
page at which you open you will find the remedy for
ydur distress."

The nun obeyed, and instantly was comforted and
reassured ; nor from that time onwards was she troubled
by the old temptations.

By a very slight twist the narrators of this incident
endow the Abbess with something of a magician's
power and convert the written page into a kind of spell.
Yet the story is in reality simple and matter-of-fact,
disappointing in that it omits the name of the book,
and interesting only as illustrative of Caterina's tact,
discrimination, and common sense. The girl had strung
herself up to a high pitch of emotion ; so Caterina
spoke little. She was taking herself too seriously ; so
Caterina treated her with bracing cheerfulness. After
the manner of young persons, she thought that her
difficulties were unprecedented and unique ; so Caterina
pointed her to a passage which had aided other earnest
souls, a passage so often read that the book opened of
itself at the marked or well-worn page.

The last of these miraculous histories is a detailed
narrative of the first death which took place in the
convent.

Sister Samaritana Superbi was a Ferrarese, and was
one of the fifteen nuns whom Caterina brought from
Ferrara. She was noted for her fervent devotion to the
rule and unwavering spirit of submission, and towards
the close of her life was able to declare with all humility

THE NEW COLONY 121

that she had never consciously sinned in respect to
obedience. Soon after her arrival in Bologna her health
began to decline, and three years later her case was
pronounced hopeless. Finally symptoms of an extra-
ordinary and convulsive nature made their appearance,
to the extreme terror of her companions, to whom the
drawn face, rolling eyes, groans and twitches seemed
indubitable proof of diabolical possession. They stood
helplessly round her bed, " more dead than alive, and
with copious tears made supplication that God would
succour their companion in such a perilous conflict."

The Abbess exhibited as much credulity but vastly
more saving faith than her spiritual daughters. She
was not more scientific than they were, but she was
much more energetic. She " needed to be waited on
herself rather than to have to wait on others," for she
was more than usually suffering "by reason of her
chronic maladies " : but self-forgetting as usual she
insisted on nursing the unfortunate nun, and for forty-
eight hours never left her side.

Towards the end of the second day there was a lull in
the storm. The nuns besought their beloved Mother to
take some repose. Caterina yielded to their entreaties,
but declared that the alleviation was only temporary
and that she must be called the moment the bad
symptoms returned. The summons was not long
delayed. The Sister who was sacristan, presumably
thinking that the necessity for such aid was over,
extinguished one of the two consecrated tapers which
had been placed by the bed, replacing it for purposes
of light by an ordinary candle. At that moment the
other consecrated taper went out — " was blown out by

132 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the Fiend"; whereupon the torments of the sufferer
began afresh and with increased violence.

The Abbess had not yet lain down, and she came
without delay, grieving greatly not only for Samaritana's
sufferings, but on account of the trial of faith and perse-
verance they occasioned to the novices, who were
much distressed that one who had led a holy life should
thus on her death-bed be abandoned to the power of
the Evil One. Approaching the bedside, she solemnly
defied that power, and declared her disbelief in the
Adversary's ability to disturb the souls of so many of
God's children, and her confidence in the salvation of
one who had been the faithful bride of Christ. Turning
to the nuns, she bade them be calm and constant in
prayer. Then she sprinkled the dying woman with
holy water, held her hands, soothed her with words and
caresses. Next, kneeling beside her, she repeated over
and over again the name of Jesus. Finally, standing up,
she said : " Now depart, thou Evil Spirit, thou hast no
more power in this place or in the soul of this creature."

And the sufferer lay still : the distorted face became
composed, regained its old semblance, nay, seemed to
grow younger, " like the face of a girl of fifteen years " ;
the eyes became clear and calm ; the lips parted in a
smile ; and though speechless, the sufferer clearly ex-
pressed her love and gratitude to the mother who bent
over her.

" My daughter, you would fain tell me something of
your victory ? "

The sufferer plainly heard, but she could not answer.

"Rest, rest, my daughter. I understand well what
thou wouldst say : but now on thy obedience I bid thee

THE NEW COLONY 123

speedily depart in company with thy dear Guardian
Angel unto life eternal."

The dying woman lifted her eyes to the speaker's
face, and then turned them for a moment on the nuns
who stood around her. Then with a smile she bowed
her head and gently drew her last breath.

To Caterina, who had assisted so untiringly during
the long hours of travail, the soul's delivery and new
birth took visible shape. In ecstatic vision she beheld
the spirit of the departed Sister borne upwards by
angelic hosts. The intensity of her heart's joy acted
on her body like some invigorating cordial. She ex-
perienced a sudden cessation of her physical trouble, an
instantaneous removal of the burden of weakness and
weariness which had so long oppressed her. She cast
away the stick with which she had hobbled to the sick
room and broke into song and verse ; the nuns caught
the infection, and the extraordinary scene ends almost
like some revivalist meeting in a chorus of jubilant,
spontaneous, ecstatic singing.

This first death in the convent formed the closing
scene of Caterina's first term of office. For in three
days the Provincial Beato Fra Marco Fantuzzi, behold-
ing in the houses of Poor Clares within his jurisdiction
not a few abuses and disadvantages springing from
perpetuity of office, laid before the Pope a proposal
that the position of abbess or superior should hence-
forward be held only for a fixed term of years. The
scheme received the papal approbation ; the office of
abbess was made triennial, and the measure was ex-
tended to houses belonging to other orders.

124 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Such a decree was naturally obnoxious to many-
reigning abbesses ; but to Caterina, wholly devoid as
she was of the spirit of domination, the near prospect
of laying down the reins of government was genuinely
welcome. Only she desired to finish within her term of
office a piece of work which her successors might be less
eager and able to carry out, namely, the beginning of an
orderly " Archivio." To this self-imposed task she de-
voted all the energies of her closing reign, collecting
and cataloguing all privileges, grants, and letters, papal,
episcopal, and communal, connected with the founding
of the convent in Bologna, and with her own hand
making copies of those belonging to the mother house
in Ferrara.

Sister Anna Morandi of Ravenna was Caterina's suc-
cessor, but her office was of short duration. Shortly
after her election the poor lady was attacked by a
malady of the eyes, and before a year had passed she
was almost totally blind.

A new election was imperative, and the Provincial
visited the convent for the purpose of conducting it.
Conversing privately with the nuns, he was told separ-
ately by them all that they did not mean to vote for
Sister Caterina because her disposition was so mild,
lenient, and compassionate that they feared that the
discipline of the convent would be relaxed by her rule.

Great therefore was the visitor's astonishment, as he
drew the voting-papers from the nuns, to find that all
save one bore the name of Caterina. Surprised and
irritated he exclaimed —

" What extraordinary ladies you are ! You tell me

THE NEW COLONY 125

privately you do not wish Sister Caterina to be your
Abbess, and then you all vote for her. Which is one to
believe, your written or your spoken word ? "

There was silence, till the one sister who had not
voted for Caterina rose in her place and said —

" Father, I am she who did not vote for Sister
Caterina. I persuaded myself I ought not to do so
for the reasons of which I told you. But now I see
that it is God's will that she should be our Prelate, and
I repent and revoke my vote, giving it, like all the rest,
to Sister Caterina. And for my part I pray you, Father,
to confirm this our unanimous election."

Then the Provincial, convinced that this thing was
the work of the Holy Spirit, formally approved the
re-election of the first Abbess.

The pressing need and great work of her second
term of office was the enlargement of the building. It
was a deep grief to her to reject a would-be recruit, not
only because such a refusal seemed discourteous and
unkind, but because it appeared to involve subtraction
from the forces engaged in active conflict against sin,
the world, and the devil.

At last it happened that some rejected applicants
were children of wealthy and indulgent parents, who,
when they realized that their daughters could not be
received because every cell in the house was already
occupied, came forward with liberal alms for the en-
largement of the fabric. Then the Abbess said her
Nunc Dimittis. She felt that her strength was fail-
ing, and that her earthly course was nearly run, but she
had lived to see the answer to her most earnest prayers,
and the fulfilment of her pure ambitions.

CHAPTER VI

THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Praised be Thou, O Lord, by our sister, the Death of the body,
Whom no living creature may avoid.

S. Francis of Assisi's Hymn of the Sun.

CATERINA'S work in this world was nearly done.
The chronic maladies became more acute, pul-
monary symptoms appeared, and there was a general
failure of strength and vitality.

Her devoted nurse was a young Bolognese, who had
entered the convent at the age of ten, and had been
professed at twelve. This little Sister, Maddalena Rosa,
loved the Mother with the intense, romantic affection
which a young girl often conceives for an older woman,
and during the last months of Caterina's life she seldom
left her side. She slept in her room, helped the " Infir-
miere" to prepare her food and medicine, and minis-
tered to her according to the physician's orders. One
day it happened that while bathing the invalid's feet
she was moved by an access of mingled love, com-
passion, and apprehension to stoop and kiss them. Cate-
rina made a hasty movement of withdrawal, and chid
the child for foolishness. But the little Sister's spirit
rose. " You may chide me now, Mother," she cried,
" but the time will come when many will do as I have

126

THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS 127

done." What she precisely meant by this vindication
of her own affection she did not know. But she was
wont to declare that the sweet odour proceeding from
the Santa's feet and filling the little cell impelled her to
this act of reverent love, and in after years her words
were remembered and were held to be the prophecy of
a child pure of heart.

A full year before the end came there was a sharp
premonitory illness and a rehearsal of the final death-
bed scene. The Abbess was removed from her cell to a
bed in the infirmary. The last sacraments were ad-
ministered ; the nuns stood weeping quietly round one
who seemed already to have drifted far beyond their
reach.

But after some hours the tide of life turned. Con-
sciousness came back ; the eyes opened ; the lips quiv-
ered into smiles. A few more days, and Caterina was
clearly convalescent.

Then it seemed to the nuns that she showed a con-
valescent's caprice, for she asked constantly and urgently
for a little viol, and finally charged the Sisters on their
obedience to bring her one.

Where the astonished nuns sought, from whom they
obtained, the instrument is not recorded. But after
some days a "violetta" was placed in the invalid's
hands, to her infinite solace and content. She lay
propped up in bed, now playing on her little viol, now
reposing with upturned radiant face and far-off gaze,
lost to her immediate surroundings, and seeniingly ab-
sorbed in ^appy memories. The nuns, finding them-
selves unheeded and their interrogations unanswered,
decided that, in spite of apparent improvement. Gate-

128 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

rina's death was near ; and at length one of them
exclaimed with a touch of bitterness : " Ah ! Mother
dear, you go away to enjoy music and song in heaven,
but we remain below in sorrow and tears."

The words seemed to bring the Abbess back to her
children. She told the tearful nun to have no fear.
Her hour had indeed come, but her departure was
delayed by the prayets of one of their number : the
Lord had granted that she should tarry awhile.

Then, little by little, she told them of the vision
which had filled the hours when she lay between life
and death. Her spirit seemed transported to a fair
meadow, "more beautiful than can be told or thought";
and in the midst of it was set a throne resplendent as
the sun, and on the throne the Heavenly King. The
supporters on either side the throne were the martyrs
Laurence and Vincent, and all around them stood the
court, even an infinite number of saints and angels.
But before the throne was a clear space, and in that
space there stood a single angel, holding a little viol,
to which he sang. And the song was so exceeding
sweet that it seemed to Caterina as though the soul
must leave her body for pure joy. But though it
never ceased, and the vision lasted long, she could hear
no other words but these : Et gloria ejus in te videbitur.

Then the Lord Himself stretched forth His arm and
took her by the hand, and said : " Listen, O daughter,
to this refrain and understand, for it is of thee it speaks."
But Caterina seemed dazed and stupefied with joy ; yet
as she knelt confounded and speechless before the throne,
she understood that her hour of deliverance was not yet
come, but that prayer was dragging her back to earth.

THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS 129

No one can r6ad Caterina's description of this vision
of the Court of Heaven without being struck by its
pictorial quality. The central throne with its two balls
(pomi), on which stand as supporters the two deacon
martyrs ; the grouping on either side of saints and
angels ; the background of green and flowery meadow ;
the open space in front occupied by the single figure on
which all interest concentrates ; — this is a conventional,
carefully balanced composition of a kind familiar to all
students of the pictures and miniatures of the Trecento
and early Quattrocentro}

The vision itself furnished a subject to the painter
Guido Morina, whose picture hangs in the Sala del
Tiarini in the Gallery of Bologna. The two saints
represented as supporters of the heavenly throne are
wrongly named alike by Mrs. Jameson and the official
catalogue, the former calling them S. Stephen and
St. Laurence, the latter S. Sebastian and St. Laurence.

The waking remembrance and repetition of a dream-
melody recalls a story told of another musical saint, the
English Dunstan. One night in sleep he seemed to be
present at the espousals of his mother with the Saviour
of the world. The angelic choir sang, but he, the duti-
ful and loving son, was dumb. Then one of the angels,
pitying his ignorance, vouchsafed to teach him the song.
Next morning, assembling his monks round him, he
taught them the music he had learned in the vision of
the previous night.

■" Mrs. Jameson tells us that the deacon martyrs SS. Vincent and
Laurence were frequently associated in sacred art, the Spanish legend even
making them brothers ; but the present writer has not been able to dis-
cover any picture thus introducing them which might have been seen by
Caterina.

I30 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

To the nuns who had never heard their Abbess play,
her proficiency on the viol seemed miraculous, and
following their naive suggestions, later biographers
declared that Caterina had no previous musical know-
ledge. But the close friend and cultured lady, Suor
Illuminata, makes no such assertion. She doubtless
understood that the dying woman's mind was wander-
ing back to her girlhood in Ferrara, when Parisina
accompanied the singing of her stepson Ugo, when
Borso, of an age with Caterina, and his senior Leonello,
played on various instruments, and when the little
Margherita and her companion were doubtless expected
to contribute to the chamber music of the Court.

The Abbess did not long enjoy the selfish delights of
convalescence. After a few days the little viol was laid
aside, never to be touched again, and Caterina rose from
her bed, and to the wonder and anxiety of her nuns,
followed her customary routine. She did what she had
always done, but with new grace and inspiration. She
seemed consumed with zeal, on fire with love ; so that
in very truth the words of the singing angel were ful-
filled, and God's glory was manifested in the daily life
of this Saint. It is obvious from the sequence of
revelation in Caterina's narrative that she herself
accepted the refrain as an injunction to greater holiness
during the months unexpectedly added to her allotted
span. But after her death and the artificial reclame
created by her fond but foolish disciples, the words were
converted into a prediction of her technical sanctity
and its bases.

Long ago Caterina had numbered among her Seven
Weapons "Memoria mortis proprise," but throughout

THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS 131

that winter of 1463 she seemed to look forward with
chastened impatience to the approach of " Sister Death,"
whose coming might not be hastened, and the hour
of whose arrival was announced. The winter was
peculiarly severe, and the Sisters trembled when they saw
their Abbess kneel absorbed in prayer for hours in the
cold church. At length they offered a remonstrance,
whereupon Caterina smiled and bid them have no fear,
for " 1' ora mia non e venuta." Another time a report
was circulated that Caterina was to be transferred as
Abbess to another convent ; but this fear also she dis-
pelled with great decision, saying that at Ferrara the
Lord had revealed to her she should finish her earthly
course at Bologna, and that the end was at hand.

On the 25th of February a Chapter was held, and
after the dispatch of the usual business the Abbess, as
was her custom, addressed her daughters. Her subject
was the power of prayer ; she spoke with unusual
fluency and fervour ; her heart seemed full to over-
flowing ; and the little ragionamento expanded into
a discourse three hours in length. At its close the
Abbess begged her daughters to pardon her long speech,
giving as her excuse the certainty that this was the laslj
Chapter she would ever hold : " My end has come, and
gladly 1 go hence. I leave you the peace of Christ.
Love one another. I shall ever plead before God
for you."

The nuns were astonished at these words, and did
not take them greatly to heart. Caterina had been ill
so frequently, and had frightened them so constantly,
and just now she seemed better and stronger than
usual.

132 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

If they had any apprehensions these were allayed by
the bearing of their Mother on the following Sunday.
She looked particularly well and seemed unusually
bright and cheerful. All day she talked more than
was her wont, and in the evening supped gaily with her
daughters in the refectory. But in the domitory she
spoke briefly to Sister lUuminata concerning the future
of the house, bidding her have confidence in the Divine
aid and protection, and adding : " Blessed be the Lord
who at last has granted me the longed-for end, the
longed-for rest."

Then she went to her bed, and did not rise from
it again. Next day the old symptoms had returned,
accompanied by fever. She suffered greatly, but again,
as in her former sickness, found relief in music, singing
with great fervour and delight her own canzone,

" Anima benedetta
Dall' alto Creatore," '

to an accompaniment played by one of the Sisters.

Early in the morning of Wednesday, the gth of
March, she asked for the "Vicaria," the sister who
acted as governante or housekeeper. Suor Giovanna
Lambertini duly came to her bedside, and was there
directed by the Abbess to put away and carefully
preserve the clothes and other effects of a certain
recently arjived novice. " Be ready," said the Abbess,
" when asked for these things to deliver them at once ;

' Caiducci includes this hymn in his anthology, " Primavera e Fieri della
Lirica Italiana," but labels it " Ignoto, Secolo XIV." It is however
attributed to Caterina by most of her biographers, and we are told that
the nuns circulated numerous copies in her lifetime, but always, by her
express desire, without giving the name of the author. See Appendix A.

THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS 133

and meanwhile let all pray fervently for this novice,
whose need is great." A few weeks later Caterina's
judgment and knowledge of character was illustrated
by the withdrawal of the novice in question from the
religious life.

Later in the day the Abbess sent for the Confessor,
and bade her daughters prepare an altar in the room,
and place at the foot of her bed a crucifix, candles,
and holy water. The command surprised and shocked
the nuns, for, though the serious symptoms continued,
neither they nor the physician regarded the Mother's
condition as critical. But when they had obeyed her,
and had prepared for her reception of the last sacra-
ments, she signed to them to gather round her and
began to take leave of them.

She commended to them the novices, " both those
who are with you now and those who will come in the
future." She bade them respect and obey the "Vi-
caria," Sister Giovanna Lambertini, "who has always
been a good and faithful daughter to me; and one
better qualified for her work I could not have desired."
And she earnestly besought their care and protection
for her aged mother, Benvenuta dei Mamolini, who, by
special permission of the Pope, was now residing within
the convent, though only a "Terzina," she having, a
year after her arrival in Bologna, become exceedingly
infirm and totally blind.

After these bequests came two solemn warnings :
Let no one within or without the house seek or scheme
for the removal or the transference of any member
of the community, or for the reception of nuns from
other convents ; and let none give cause for a dimin-

134 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

ution of the fair fame of the house ; and if any thus
transgress " I will demand vengeance upon them before
the tribunal of the Eternal Judge."

In this trumpet-note of passionate denunciation we
have a last glimpse of what may be called the warlike
side of Caterina's nature. But it speedily died away
into a strain of yearning, maternal tenderness for the
spiritual children she was leaving orphaned. Once
again, adopting the words of her Lord, she left them
the precious legacy of peace ; once again she re-
peated the Johannine injunction to mutual love. And
then she comforted them and bade them dry their
tears, saying that those who wept for her were not her
daughters.

Presently she turned to the portress and commanded
her to go instantly to the door ; but the portress, stupe-
fied with grief and believing that the Confessor could
not possibly arrive so soon, did not stir. Caterina
repeated the command, asserting that he whom she
expected was even now knocking at the gate. And
so, indeed, he was ; and the speed with which he had
received and obeyed the message of the Abbess seemed
to the excited nuns nothing less than miraculous.

Another miracle was created out of the Confessor's
confusion, and the Abbess's composure and know-
ledge of the office. Having made her confession
with a strong voice and perfect clearness of mind,
Caterina prepared with great devotion to receive the
viaticum. But the priest lost his place, failed to " find
the words proper to this occasion," and stood helplessly
turning and returning the leaves. Whereupon the
Abbess said gently : " Father, look in the middle of the

THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS 135

book, and you will find what you want." The Confessor
followed her direction and proceeded with the office.

Extreme Unction was then administered, and Caterina
afterwards placed in the Confessor's hands the book she
had long ago composed, but the existence of which she
had carefully concealed. Then she turned to the Sisters
and said humbly: " I ask pardon of you all for any grief
or offence I may have given you. Pray God for me."

She looked up at them with a bright and peaceful
face, then her eyelids closed, and with the name of
her Saviour thrice repeated on her lips — "Gesti, Gesu,
Gesii" — Caterina dei Vigri "breathed forth her happy
soul in a little gentle sigh."

CHAPTER VII

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY

Put a chalk-egg beneath the clucking hen,
She'll lay a real one, laudably deceived,
Daily for weeks to come. I've told my lie
And seen truth follow, marvels none of mine ;
All was not cheating, sir, I'm positive.

Browning, Sludge the Medium.

ONE would gladly take leave of the Abbess Caterina
lying as though in peaceful sleep upon her narrow
bed, her face less corpse-like than it had often been in
the days of her suffering life, and wearing the wonder-
ful look of renewed youth and placid childlike innocence
which is often the gentle gift of " Sister Death." One
would gladly take leave of her thus ; but the strange
blackened figure in the church of Corpus Domini is so
insistent, and the Santa's post-mortem history bulks so
large in hagiography, that we must needs consider the
events which led to her canonization.

Briefly they are as follows : —

The grave of the deceased Abbess was naturally
visited frequently by the sorrowing nuns. Some of
them declared that it exhaled fragrance ; others dis-
covered that after kneeling on the spot they were cured
of various small maladies. After eighteen days the
body was exhumed and was found unchanged, beauti-

136

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY 137

ful, and positively fragrant. By permission of the
Cardinal-Bishop, it was exposed in the chapel, and was
visited by numbers of pious Bolognese. By degrees
the fame of the Santa spread beyond her city. Pilgrims
from all parts of Italy visited the lifelike corpse, and
bestowed rich gifts^ upon it. The first " Life " published
in 1503 devotes a lengthy section "to the numerous
miracles which God has worked by means of this
blessed one." The first printed copy of The Seven
Weapons, published less than fifty years after its author's
death,^ shows that her cult was thoroughly established.
Fourteen years later it was formally authorized by
Clement VII, and a special office was appointed for
her festa. In 1592 the title of Beata was conferred
on her. In May, 1707, her canonization was decreed,
though the act was not executed till 171 3.

We will now examine some of these facts in detail,
and will glance at the evidence for them supplied by
various persons in the processo which preceded the
canonization. Let us first, however, prepare our judicial
faculties by recalling the passion for relics which char-
acterized the age to which Caterina belonged. The
keen competition for them between city and city,
monastery and monastery, is a phenomenon with which
the modern student of history may not sympathize,
but with which he must needs reckon. Fraud and
force were exercised in their acquisition, and the end
was held to justify the means. Having acquired a

^ Notably the diadem presented by Isabella, wife of Ferdinand of
Aragon, King of Naples, and the splendid robe given by S. Carlo
Borromeo. ' i.e. in 1510.

138 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

commercial value, they became subjects of speculation.
It was worth while to secure the body not only of an
actual but of a prospective saint. Thus the companions
of S. Francis persuaded him on his last journey back
to Umbria to take the longer route by Gubbio and
Nocera, for they feared that the inhabitants of Perugia
would attempt by force of arms to seize the person of
their dying master.

Now we know that Caterina's reputation for sanctity
was established prior to her death. She was welcomed
at Bologna as that " Suor Caterina who had held in her
arms the Holy Child." Her intercessions were held
to have special efficacy. The gifts of healing and of
prophecy were attributed to her. The nuns loved her
and were proud of her, and naturally desired to spread
and to perpetuate her fame. Thus we have an atmo-
sphere in which pious fraud could be executed with
little forcing of conscience, and in which it would be
received without severe examination.

Furthermore we must note : (a) That in the pro-
cesso preceding her canonization the advocates for her
sanctity are concerned to prove that embalming did not
take place, not that it could not have taken place. The
argument which would have rendered all others super-
fluous, i.e. that the art of embalming was wholly un-
known or unpractised at that time, or that it was
utterly beyond the skill of any of the nuns or of the
convent physician, is never advanced, {b') That the
nuns had time and opportunity for the embalming of
the body either before or after its committal to the
convent graveyard.

A scene of extraordinary hysterical emotion ensued

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY 139

when the nuns realized that their Abbess had really
left them. Sabadini degli Arienti,'^ who wrote the life
of the Saint for the benefit of Ginevra Sforza, wife of
his patron Sante Bentivoglio, tells us that " the whole
convent resounded with sorrowful crying, sighs and
sobs." Some of the nuns fell to the ground swooning
or cataleptic, and were carried to their cells. " And
now this one, now that embraced her sister for sorrow^
saying, ' Alas ! whom have we now to comfort us ? We
have lost all ! Merciful God, have pity on us.' "

Then the Confessor ordered that the room should be
cleared, and that only three or four of the community
who retained their senses should be left with the corpse
to prepare it for burial. He himself retired to read the
MS. which the dying woman had delivered to him, and
to confess some of the afflicted and hysterical nuns who
appeared to be in a moribund condition. To their aid
also the physicians were summoned. Thus a doctor
was certainly within the convent during the hours which
intervened between the Abbess's death and the removal
of the body to the church.

The number of these intervening hours we unfortu-
nately do not know. Assuming that Caterina died
between 10 and ri a.m.^ on Wednesday, March 9th,
the " ufficio funebre " could not have taken place before
the morning of Thursday, but we should expect the

' For his patroness he wrote the biographies of thirty-three women.
This collection — Ginevra de le Clare Donne — was republished by Corrado
Ricci in 1888. Sabadini was a writer of no distinction, but is a valuable
authority, inasmuch as most of the Lives are those of women of the
fifteenth century, who were almost his contemporaries.

° We are told that she died " sulle ore quindici," and we assume that
the reckoning is from the Ave Maria of the preceding evening.

I40 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

body to have been taken to the church on Wednesday
evening. The hagiographers, however, do not tell us
that this was done ; on the contrary, we might infer from
their accounts of the funeral that it followed almost im-
mediately on the transport of the body to the church.
They tell us that when the holy Abbess was brought
before the altar of the Blessed Sacrament her dead
face beamed with joy ; but they somewhat destroy the
effectiveness of this information by adding that "the
afflicted ladies" took no heed of so startling a phe-
nomenon, being " wholly occupied with bitterness and
anguished weeping." " And thus," says Sabadini, " with
tearful obsequies they bore her to the grave."

Having satisfied ourselves that there was time be-
tween Caterina's death and burial for a thorough or for
a partial embalmment, let us proceed to note the con-
duct of the sisters appointed as gravediggers.

" Sorrowing for pity that the face which in life had
been to them the mirror of comfort and holiness and
which in death appeared the same should be pressed
down by earth," the four nuns placed over it a cloth,
and above the cloth arranged a board propped on
stones, so that the body should not actually come into
contact with the soil.

Now follow hints of a mysterious light hovering above
the grave by night, and of sweet odours rising from it
by day. The light may indicate that the work of em-
balming was not complete before interment or that
preservative or odoriferous substances were being added
from time to time ; or it may merely have been one
feature in a scheme for awakening a belief in the
sanctity of the already embalmed Abbess and a de-

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY 141

mand for her exhumation. Certain it is that the belief
grew apace, and that the demand was made with in-
creasing insistency ; till at length the Father Confessor
yielded so far as to consent that the body should be
placed in a coffin, with, however, the proviso that the
exhumation should be abandoned if any noxious odour
arose from the grave, and that if carried out it should
be followed by the immediate reinterment of the coffin.
And this, says the earliest Life, he said because the
Padri Osservanti "were not well assured of her sanctity,
albeit the grave exhaled the strongest odours." The same
Life tells us that the sisters had made a coffin secretly;
which looks as though they did not even wait for a
permission which they were determined to extract.

A dramatic account is given of the nocturnal dis-
interment. The evening was ushered in by thunder,
rain, and tempest, and the four sisters waited long
beneath the portico adjoining the cemetery, unable to
begin their work, and convinced that the hindrance was
of the Devil's machination. At length Sister Illumi-
nata Bembo left the sheltering colonnade, advanced into
the open, and conjured the tempest and the darkness
with the holy cross, praying God to give her a sign
whether or no it were His will that the body should be
removed. And behold ! the sky above the graveyard
cleared. " The calm vault of heaven glittering with
stars," says Sabadini, "became visible," and beams of
light seemed to descend upon the grave.

The Confessor's apprehensions were not justified ;
the body was uncorrupted ; only the board, by reason
of the weight of earth above it, had slipped and injured
the face, especially the nose. The nuns placed the

142 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

body in the coffin, cleaned the face, and straightened
the nose ; whereupon, says Sabadini, there issued from
it " living blood."

And now according to the Confessor's instructions
the coffin should have been closed and returned to
earth. But these four nuns were, strangely enough,
unanimously " overpowered by a sudden impulse, which
they held to be a divine prompting." Lifting the
coffin "with one accord," they bore it through the
colonnade to the church, and set it down before the
altar of the Blessed Sacrament. Whereupon, they
declared, the former miracle was repeated, and the dead
Abbess visibly saluted the Body of the Lord. There
she lay in the open coffin, her face fresh and fair, her
flesh supple, her skin exuding a sweet liquid, which
was collected and preserved by the careful nuns. And
these things were noised abroad throughout the city,
and all the pious citizens by licence of the Legate
flocked to visit the blessed corpse. And the Legate
himself desired as a relic the cloth wrapped about the
face of the holy Abbess, soaked with the mysterious
odoriferous " sweat."

The Bishop then ordered the body to be placed in
a sort of altar-tomb with two keys, one of which was
consigned to the Mother of the convent, the other to
its Father Confessor. But this arrangement did not
satisfy the sisters. A few days later, on Holy Saturday,
they were again overcome by a desire to look upon
the Mother's face ; the tomb was unlocked, and the
silken tunic in which the body had been clothed was
found to be soaked with fragrant moisture. Some
perturbation was occasioned by the ashen hue and

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY 143

sunken eyes of the corpse, but on Easter morning the
disquieting symptoms had disappeared, the eyes were
half open and the colour was fresh and rosy, tokens, it
was felt, of continued connexion between body and
soul, and therefore — though the logic of the inference
seems obscure — of the latter's beatitude. "And this
new marvel," says Caterina's biographer, "was made
public, and by a fresh concourse of pious folk was
attested and approved."

But, alas ! before maiiy months had passed, the nuns
were forced to acknowledge that the face was blacken-
ing. The woeful change was attributed to the damp of
the hastily made sarcophagus, and the dead Abbess
was accordingly placed on a litter and borne upstairs to
her own dry and airy cell.

But however convenient this habitation may have
been for the living, it was found to be unsuitable for the
dead. When pilgrims requested an interview, the
Santa was placed on a litter and conveyed downstairs
into the choir, from which through the "window for
Communion" (finestrina della Comunione) she was
exhibited to the devout. But the continual ascent
and descent of the stairs was somewhat perilous to
the precious corpse and made large demands on its
guardians' time and strength, while the bulky litter
took up much needed space in the nuns' choir. It
was felt after some years that a change must be made,
and one of the guardians of the body noticing its
continued flexibility suggested that it should be placed
in a sitting posture in a chair-like tabernacle, which
could be kept in a niche in the choir, and be run
forward on castors to the window when required.

144 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

The plan was accepted, and the tabernacle was made,
but Caterina appeared averse to the arrangement. The
body was found to be too rigid to assume a sitting
posture, and the nuns were at their wits' end when
the Abbess Illuminata Bembo ^ commanded her some-
time Superior and friend to let herself be placed on
the prepared seat. The appeal to "holy obedience"
prevailed. As though of her own will and movement
Caterina sank upon the seat, and " vi si accomod6 con
grandissima grazia."

But this arrangement also was cumbersome and
inconvenient, and at length the Santa herself suggested
a better one. Appearing in a dream to one of her
guardians, Suor Leonora Poggi, she indicated as her
choice the abode she has ever since occupied, a
camerino lying between the sacristy of the nuns'
choir and the eastern wall, a little to the side of the
high altar of the handsome external church of Corpus
Domini. Suor Leonora awoke, and behold it was a
dream which faded before the dawn of a new day.
But next night the dream was repeated, with re-
proaches, and the nun awoke full of misgivings and
indecision. Fearing a diabolic temptation to presump-
tion, she still hesitated to speak, till a third appearance
of the Saint, and renewed commands and reproaches,
sent her at break of day in great agitation to the
Abbess.

Now Mother Illuminata knew naught of the ex-
istence of this little room, which belonged to the
quarters of the lay sisters and was outside the strictly
cloistered portion of the building. But when sought

' The Abbess Illuminata does not herself record the fact.

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY 145

for, all was found to. be as the dream-Caterina had
revealed, even to the pieces of wood and spare
hangings which formed the camerino's contents. A
window was opened as she had directed, to afford a
view of the high altar, and facing it the Santa was
placed on the chair she had occupied as Abbess. There
she has ever since sat enthroned, only the chair, less in-
corruptible than its occupant, was in 1584 observed to
be rotten and unsafe, and was replaced by a new and
more gorgeous seat, carved and gilded according to the
taste of the age.

In 1 68 1 a folio volume was published in Rome con-
taining an account of the examination of witnesses,
and the facts agreed upon by the Sacra Congregatio de
Ritu in reference to Caterina's post-mortem history.

The fragrance, incorruptibility, and unsupported
sitting-posture of the body form the chief heads of
inquiry. All the witnesses agreed that in their day
there had been no issuing of " living blood " from any
part of the body, though some of the older nuns
mentioned the tradition of their convent that nose-
bleeding took place one hundred and thirty years after
the " Santa's " death. All again admitted that the hair
and nails were not actually growing; but Alfonso
Arnoaldo, Canon of S. Petronio, drew attention to the
fact that the hair was long, and that this was unusual
in a nun, while the convent physician affirmed that he
had heard growth had ceased only twelve years pre-
viously. He loyally attributed the olive tint of the
skin to constant exposure to candlelight, and defended
himself against further cross-questioning by declaring

146 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

that his sight was bad and he could not really see. All
the witnesses agreed that the skin was discoloured/
that the sitting posture was maintained without arti-
ficial support, and that beneath the insteps, and on
the thighs and chest, the body was soft and flexible,
some even said warm, to the touch. The nuns alone
declared that the face changed in expression, some-
times looking pained and severe, at other times sweet
and joyful.

The most interesting and accurate evidence is that of
certain noble Bolognese matrons, and of a doctor, one
Carlo Riario, who was called as an expert. For his
part, said this witness, he could not call the body either
corrupt or incorrupt, because flesh proper there was
none, though the skin — "cute, cuticula e membrana
carnosa " — is perfect and entire. When asked whether
he considered this state of preservation natural or
supernatural, he answered cautiously that he inclined
to the belief that it was supernatural — "piu tosto lo
credero Divino " — and this chiefly because of the con-
tinued attachment of hair to the cuticle, "for hair is
nourished by the moisture of the body, whereas this
body is dried up."

The noble matrons were empowered to examine the
body with the object of discovering any traces of
corruption on the one hand or embalming on the other.
They admit the existence of little creases or fissures,
but declare their belief that these are only skin-deep,
and attributable merely to "ritiramento della pelle,"

^ Fathei Grassetti attributes this negrezza to the dampness of the
place where the body was kept during the first months after its disinter-
ment.

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY 147

a shrinking of the skin. They also notice the ex-
istence of a little piece of cloth under the left arm,
which was removed at their request, and was not found
to conceal any defect.

One of the nuns appointed as custodian of the
Santa admits the existence of a superficial fissure in
the right arm protected by a piece of linen. A second
custodian speaks of little pieces of linen attached by
gomma to both arms, with the object, she declares, of
protecting the body from the weight of heavy
garments.

As to the odour emanating from the venerated body,
it is noteworthy that the short-sighted convent physi-
cian declared that " for his sins he had never smelt it " ;
that the " discreet matrons " said that they did not
notice it during their examination of the body, whereas
on previous visits to the chapel the air seemed filled
with fragrance ; and lastly that the nuns of Ferrara,
determined not to be altogether eclipsed by their
Bolognese sisters, maintained that on certain anniver-
saries a delicious fragrance pervaded those portions of
their building which had been specially frequented by
Sister Caterina.

This record of the carefully threshed out reasons for
Caterina's canonization is curiously disagreeable read-
ing. The processo has the repulsiveness, without the
justification, of a coroner's inquest, its ultimate end
being not the safety of the living but the glorification
of a woman whom many generations of her fellow-
citizens had already hailed as blessed. The true odour
of sanctity exhaled by The Seven Weapons seems
tainted by the discussion of the nature of the perfume

148 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

observed in the chapel. Comments on growing hair
and nails and blackened and fissured skin seem un-
warrantable liberties taken with a defenceless gentle-
woman ; and, remembering Illuminata's ridiculous
commendation of Caterlna's prudishness, we feel a
heat of vicarious modesty at the really perfectly
decorous proceedings of the Bolognese matrons. The
various depositions seem heavy with suggestion of
fraud mingling with gruesome but not unparalleled
natural phenomena, and the worst features of
medieval superstition meet those of modern note-
taking realism in the descriptions of the appearance
and condition of the corpse, descriptions from which
any hint of the sweet personality which once animated
it is rigorously excluded.

As for the post-mortem miracles of the " Santa,"
which in their turn are duly examined and discussed,
they are of a kind familiar to all readers of hagio-
graphical literature. Two were cited in the Deed of
Canonization — the cure of a stiff hand useless for nine
months, and of a violent fever with delirium and coma.
Both patients were nuns ; both were despaired of by
their physicians.

But the greatest miracle of all went unmentioned
and won no kudos for its worker. It was this :
Caterina being dead ruled the convent of Corpus
Domini for the space of an entire year. Her daughters
could not bring themselves to make a fresh election,
for the spirit of the beloved Abbess seemed as close to
them as was her earthly tabernacle. When at length
the Vicar-General visited the community he found that
order, discipline, charity, and content were perfectly

CATERINA'S POST-MORTEM HISTORY 149

maintained under the ghostly rule of a fair memory.
None of the nuns would consent to reign in Caterina's
stead, and her successor had at length to be imported
from the mother-house in Ferrara.

CHAPTER VIII

CATERINA THE ARTIST

If at whiles
My heart sinks, as monotonous I paint
These endless cloisters and eternal aisles
With the same series, Virgin, Babe and Saint

At least no merchant trafiScs in my heart ;

The sanctuary's gloom at least shall ward ^

Vain tongues from where my pictures stand apart.

So die my pictures ! surely, gently die.

Browning, Pictor Ignotus.

Their works drop groundward, but themselves, I know,
Reach many a time a heaven that's shut to me,
Enter and take their place there sure enough.
Though they come back and cannot tell the world.

Browning, Andrea del Sarto.

A CHAPTER dealing with the artistic activity of
Caterina dei Vigri is of necessity bald and brief.
Her biographers were concerned to spread the fame of
the " Santa," not of the artist. Her painting in their
eyes as in her own was merely a superfluous expression
of religious fervour, of far less importance than many
other manifestations of the same grace. Consequently
they tantalize us by indicating considerable artistic

ISO

CATERINA THE ARTIST 151

industry without supplying any details as to its results.
Thus lUuminata Bembo, who develops with such satis-
factory fullness the character of her friend and the
nature of their intercourse, dismisses her paintings in a
single sentence : " E volontiere dipingea il Verbo Divino
piccolino infasciato, e per molti luoghi del Monastero di
Ferrara, e pei libri lo faceva cosi piccolino." (She
delighted in painting the Divine Word as a swaddled
child, and for many places in the monastery at Ferrara
and for the books she did Him thus.)

The earliest " Life," that of 1 503, does not even repeat
these details, but merely gives us the unillustrated in-
formation that " her hands were singularly skilful in the
writing of fair books and in illumination in various
colours."

These meagre statements at least indicate what is
borne out by the few existing specimens of her work,
namely, that Caterina, whether she painted moderately
large pictures or decorated breviaries, was essentially
a miniaturist. We have seen that in thought and feeling
she belonged to an age anterior to her own, and this
backwardness of temper is expressed by the primitive
character of her art. It is very difficult to realize that
Gentile Bellini was only eight years her junior ; or even
that the Dominican, whose gentle mysticism and lack of
science were akin to her own, was decorating the walls
of S. Marco in Florence at the very time when she was
adorning "many places in the convent of Ferrara." Far
easier is it to recollect that Duccio was another of her
contemporaries ; for curiously enough the Bambino in
the best authenticated of Caterina's paintings, the really
beautiful " Madonna of the Apple," somewhat resembles

152 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

in facial shape and expression the Infants of the Sienese
painter, whose work it seems unlikely she ever saw.

The " Madonna of the Apple " hangs in the chapel of
the Santa in the church of Corpus Domini in Bologna.
It is unsigned, but has been attributed to the first
Abbess by the constant and unbroken tradition of the
convent. It is a large miniature on canvas, with care-
fully stippled colour and the application of burnished
gold. The flesh tints are clear, fresh, and beautiful ;
the expression of the Holy Child is intelligent and
engaging ; and the crimson tones of the Virgin's robe
are wonderfully rich and harmonious. The picture is
named from the ripe fruit which she holds in her left
hand.

Another Madonna and Child traditionally attributed
to Caterina hangs in the convent refectory. It was
shown to the writer by the courtesy of two of the
Sisters, the Madre Camerlinga and Suor Marianna.
Too large to be passed through the aperture in the
parlour wall, it could be seen only through the double
"grille." But even this imperfect view revealed its
likeness and its inferiority to the " Madonna of the
Apple." The likeness was most marked in respect to
the attitude and expression of the Bambino, and the
effect of inferiority in execution was heightened by the
misplaced piety of past generations, which had adorned
the Mother with earrings and the Child with necklaces
of pearl and coral.

Another specimen of work attributed to the Santa
was more closely inspected. It was a sheet of vellum
about seven inches by eight inches, on which was drawn
a half-length figure of the Redeemer and two small

MINIATURE ON VELLUM

CONVENT OF CORPUS DOMINI, BOLOGNA

CATERINA THE ARTIST 153

scenes representing the Annunciation. The Christ is
executed in pale transparent tints with golden aureole
and collar, against an opaque dull blue background
faintly lined with gold. The right hand points to the
wounded side, visible through the semi-transparent
robe. The left hand grasps an open book, on the
pages of which we have a specimen of Caterina's fine
calligraphy. On one is written : —

In me omnis gratia

in me omnis vie (?) et veritetis.

On the other : —

In me omnis spes
Vite (?) et virtutis.

The two little round miniatures above the half-length
figure of the Redentore are somewhat superior in
execution, and it has been conjectured that they are by
another hand, possibly that of her master. To the
writer the superiority only seems such as would result
from an additional degree of experience and courage.
The larger miniature may have been painted when the
artist — an amateur it must be remembered — was out of
practice, the two smaller when she had "her hand
in." Probably, too, she had already attempted an
Annunciation. However that may be, her treatment of
the subject is distinctly interesting. In one of the
little pictures the Virgin sits, in the other the Announ-
cing Angel kneels ; and in both the background is a
green meadow filled with pre-Raphaelite flowers and
shaded by golden trees.

In connexion with this outdoor setting of an event
depicted by most of the painters of the time as taking

154 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

place in the house, or at least in an open cloister or
loggia, it is interesting to remember that in Caterina's
vision of the Heavenly Court the scene is "a great
meadow of such beauty as human speech cannot de-
scribe." That vision, as we have already said, is the
dream of a medieval painter. Another, of an earlier
date (143 1 ), is described by Caterina in The Seven
Weapons as a painter might describe his conception of
a picture. The subject is the Last Judgment. God
" in human form and aspect, clothed in crimson, with
face turned towards the west, stands in the highest
clouds of heaven." "A little lower down, to the side
but not far away," the Virgin Mother, robed and
mantled in pure white, stands in an attitude of ad-
miring expectation. " Some distance below " the twelve
apostles sit on flaming thrones. Much lower again a
great multitude of men and women stand with faces
upturned to God. Caterina herself had a place among
those on God's right hand.

Here, wonderful to relate, the picture ends. We
should have expected such a description of the torments
of the lost and the joys of the saved as arouses our
interest and repugnance on the walls of the Spanish
chapel, or the painting of Fra Angelico in the Belle
Arti, in Florence. But with singular restraint and
dramatic feeling Caterina seizes the one moment of
supreme expectation and omits subsequent details.
Whether this composition was ever transferred from
mind to canvas we do not know. Perhaps Caterina
was conscious that her technical skill was inadequate
to the task ; perhaps she tried, and tried in vain, to
realize her fine conception.

ST. URSULA AND HER MAIDENS

PINACOTECA, BOLOGNA

CATERINA THE ARTIST 155

The two best-known pictures ascribed to Caterina dei
Vigri are unfortunately far less pleasing and less well
authenticated than the works already described. The
"St. Ursula" in the Bolognese Gallery (No. 202) is a
lady of enormous stature with flat, fair, expressionless
face of a Dutch type. She is, however, most gorgeously
and harmoniously attired in a rose -madder, white-
cinctured, gold-embroidered gown, under a green-lined
mantle of cloth of gold. Her virgins, the tallest of
whom hardly reaches to her ankles, shelter themselves
in the folds of this splendid cloak, and tremblingly
support the scaffolding poles from which float the
emblematic red and white pennons.

The "St. Ursula" of the Accademia of Venice (No. 54,
Sala III) is in features, dress, and colouring not unlike the
giantess of Bologna, but she has only four attendants,
does not tower above them, and carries her own red
and white banner. Red, tawny, and brown tones pre-
vail through the picture. The pose of the second lady
on the right is graceful and unexpected, reminding us
slightly of Ferugino, and she has a very curious scarlet
horn projecting from her curly hair. In the foreground
kneels a nun in a white habit with a black wimple.

The signature, " CATTERINA viGRi F BOLOGNA. 1456,"
is almost certainly a later addition.

The white habit of the kneeling figure has inclined
some Italian experts to believe that the picture was
painted, not by Caterina, but by a Dominican nun.
The well-known name of the Santa of Bologna would
undoubtedly be affixed by later generations to a
picture traditionally attributed to a forgotten fifteenth-
century religious. But is it quite certain that the kneel-

iS6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

ing figure in the foreground is a Dominican ? The nun
does not indeed wear the grey or brown serge of a
Poor Clare; but a white habit was worn not only by
Dominicans but also by some communities emanat-
ing from the Augustinian Order.^ The distinguishing
mark of a Dominican is of course the knotted cord ;
but the position of the arms of this small kneeling
figure prevents us from seeing whether this is present.
The straight fall of the white folds suggests, however,
the absence of any cincture.

Now if we assume that this figure may be Augustinian,
various interesting possibilities present themselves. If
the date 1456 be altogether imaginary, we may see
in the nun an early auto-ritrattro of the painter, or a
portrait of her friend Suor Illuminata ; and in either case
the picture may have been a gift to the latter's family,
the great Venetian house of Bembo. If on the other
hand we accept the date as correct even though its
inscription be not contemporaneous, we may imagine
that Caterina, warned by a vision of her approaching
departure to Bologna, determined to take with her as
a precious souvenir a portrait of " our first Mother,"
Lucia Mascheroni. We know that Lucia never aban-
doned the habit and rule she had first adopted, while
her early work among the young ladies of Ferrara
might certainly entitle her to the special protection of
St. Ursula. Such a picture, carried by Caterina to
Bologna, would have no interest for any members of the
new community with the exception of Illuminata, who
had also been one of Lucia's maidens, and on Caterina's

' St. Bridget of Sweden, however, wore a black tunic, white wimple,
and white veil with red band. St. Rosalia of Palermo wore a black
XxixM. fastened by a leather belt, a black veil, and white wimple.

CATERINA THE ARTIST 157

death it may have passed to her friend and successor,
and from her again, by gift or bequest, to a Venetian
relative^ or friend, who would prize it for the sake of
some old memory or association.

Venice possesses yet another painting ascribed, and
with great probability, to the Santa. It is stowed away
in a room above the church of S. Giovanni in Bragora.
The picture is in four compartments : each contains
two female martyrs in richly coloured and embroidered
robes, drawn on a gold background.^

The question naturally asked in respect to every
artist — who was his or her teacher ? — is not answered by
any of Caterina's biographers. The tradition — founded
perhaps on a general resemblance in style^that she was
the pupil of Lippo di Dalmasio, is disproved by a com-
parison of dates. Probably at the Court of Ferrara she
had lessons from some deservedly unremembered artist,
and was for the rest self-taught. It is perhaps an insig-
nificant, but certainly it is an interesting, coincidence that
in Ferrara to-day nothing can be found resembling the
work of Caterina dei Vigri save only some fragments
in the gallery taken from a demolished church dedicated
to her patron Saint. Is it, then, a too fanciful conjecture
that Margherita d'Este's young companion, fired by a
special devotion for her name-saint, drew her chief
artistic inspiration from the pictured walls of the church
of S. Catherine of Alexandria ?

' The donors to the gallery were the Molins, a very ancient Venetian
family.

^ One can distinguish S. Margaret, S. Catherine, S. Barbara, and
perhaps S. Lucy. The faces are pleasing though expressionless. I owe
the discovery of this picture to a clue kindly given me by Dr. Fogolari of
the Venetian Accademia. It is not mentioned by the biographers.

AUTHORITIES

SuOR Illuminata Bembo. Specchio d' Illuminatione sulla
Vita di Caterina da Bologna.

(Completed in 1469. The MS. is in the Archivio of the
convent of Corpus Domini. There is a printed copy in the
Library of the University of Bologna. The writer has not
been able to discover any other copy.)

Sabadini degli Arienti. Biography 4 in Gynevra de le
Clare Donne. Edited by Corrado Ricci. Curiositd, Letteraria.

Sabadini's Life of Caterina was published separately in
1 502 by Zuan Antonio, of Bologna : it was entitled Vita delta
Beata Catherina Bolognese de lordini de la diva Clara del
Corpo de Christo. It was republished with thirty-one other
biographies in the volume called Gynevra de le Clare Donne.
It reappeared again with a few variations and additions and
divisions into chapters in 1536. The additions are accounts
of the numerous miracles "which God has worked by this
blessed one," with poems and prayers composed by her or
about her.

Sabadini's Life and the archives of the convent are the
Urquelle from which Cristoforo Mansueti and Giacomo
Grassetti compiled the ajcts for her canonization.

P. Grassetti. Vita di S. Caterina da Bologna (Bologna,
1724) treats the subject exhaustively, and contains "The
Seven Weapons " and Caterina's discourse on poverty.

The Seven Weapons was published for the first time in 15 10
by Hieronymo Platone de Benedictis, citadino da Bologna.
It was republished with the Life of 1536, and has since
repeatedly reappeared.

158

AUTHORITIES 159

Numerous small biographies of S. Caterina and sermons
and orations in her honour have been examined. None of
them add anything to the information obtained from the
above-mentioned sources, save that a Ferrarese, Bruffaldi,
writing in the eighteenth century, gives the pedigree of the
Vigri family.

For her post-mortem history and the evidence of her
sanctity : —

" Congregatione Sacrorum Rituum coram Sanctissimo Card.
Parpine Bononieii. Canonizationis B. Catharinae a Bononia
Monialis Professae Ordinis S. Clarae."

Roma. Ex Typographia Reverendae Camerae Apostolicae
(1680).

For an estimate of her work as a painter : —

Malvasia. Felsina Pittrice, Vol. I.
TiRABOSCHi. Storia Lett. ItaL, Vol. VI.
Lanzi. Storia d' Arte, Vol. V.

Marco Minghetti. Le Donne Italiane mile Belle Arte
VI877)-

MS. Sources. Dossier, in Archivio Arcivescovile, Bologna,
labelled " Memorie della Lite et Pretensione de Ferrarese che
la nostra B. Cat. da Bologna si dovesse chiamare da Ferrara.''

APPENDIX A

caterina's hymn

Anima benedetta
Dair alto Creatore,
Risguarda il tuo Signore,
Che confitto t' aspetta.

Risguarda i pie forati
Confitti da un chiavello,
Stan cosi tormentati
Pe' colpi del martello :
Pensa ch' egli era bello
Sopra ogni creatura,
E la sua carne pura
Era piu che perfetta.

Anima benedetta, etc.

Risguarda quella piaga,
Ch' egli ha dal manco lato,
Vedi che' 1 sangue paga
Per tutto il tuo peccato,
Mira il Cuor trapassato
Dalla lancia crudele,
Che per ciascun fedele
II pass6 la saetta.

Anima benedetta, etc.
i6o

APPENDIX A i6i

Risguarda quelle mani
Sante, che ti plasmaro,
Vedi come que' cani
Giudei lo conficcaro :
Ora con pianto amaro
Piangi il Signor, che in Croce
Soffri pena si atroce,
Perche tu fussi lieta.

Anima benedetta, etc.

Mira il capo sacrato,
Ch' era si di lettoso
Vedil tutto forato
Di spine, e sanguinoso ;
Anima, egli e il tuo Sposo ;
Dunque perche non piagni,
Sicchfe piagnendo bagni
Ogni tua colpa in fretta.

Anima benedetta, etc.

Another of Caterina's compositions is of immense
length and small literary merit. It is a proof that she
was conversant with the Latin tongue, and had no
notion of making Latin verses.

" Desirous of meditating daily," says Father Grassetti,
" on the Life and Passion of her Redeemer," she com-
posed a Rosary, which she divided into three parts,
each part having five subdivisions. There are in all
five thousand six hundred and ten lines, each ending in
the syllable "is." Eight of them will probably more
than satisfy the reader's curiosity.

O Bone Jesu, nunc libenter te laudarem in terris,
Et meum post obitum tunc te libentissimfe in Ccelis,

i62 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Cum infinitas laudes k nobis dign^ promerearis.

Creasti etenim hunc orbem, nunc gubernas, conservasque hunc

gratis,
Et quidem in necessitatibus quibuscumque nostris
Tarn animse, quam corporis, nee unquam nos derelinquis.
Bed, quod incomparabile est, tu etiam pro omnibus nobis
Delesti originale peccatum primi parentis.

The most interesting part of this Rosary is its title,
which runs as follows : —

Jesus, Maria, Franciscus, Clara.

Rosarium antiquum, et devotum Beatissime Matris Dei,
Virginum Virginis Marise humillimse, purissimae, ac dignissimse,
non minus historicum, quam contemplativum, ut penitus
exclusa sint, et intelligantur, si quas apocrapha aliquibus
fortasse viderentur, a me Catharina Moniali, ac serva vilissima,
indigna et inutile hie in Conventu Sanctissimi Corporis Christi
Ferrarise ad Dei Filii et Matris gloriam et honorem, ob
singularissimam gratiam infrascriptam ibidem nostra in Ecclesia
genuflexe k me obtentam, inspirat^ conscriptum.

Jhe reference is to Caterina's Christmas vision. The

inspirate conscriptum is worth noting.

APPENDIX B

Decreto della Canonizazione della Beata Catarina
emanato a \i Maggio 1707

Cum in Congregatione general! coram Sanctissimo habita
die 31 Maii anni 1701 discussum fuisset dubium, An, at de
quibus Miraculis constaret post indultam Beatae Catharinae de
Bononia Venerationem : Cumque S.S.D.N. exquisitis Con-
sultorum, et Eminentissimorum, et Reverendissimorum D.D.
Sac. Rituum Congregationi Praepositorum Cardinalium suf-
fragiis, die 5 Mensis Decembris anni 1703 ex octo Miraculis
h. Postulatoribus allatis, et in discussionem adductis duo
approbaverit : nempfe.

Sextum instantaneae Sanationis Sororis Justinae de Calcinis
Monialis Monasterii S.S. Corporis Christi, k luxatione manus
a novem mensibus inflexibiles, et a Medecis derilectae.

Et octauum subitae sanationis Sororis Mariae Gertrudis de
Ghirardellis Monialis ejusdem Monasterii S.S. Corporis Christi
k gravissima infirmitate febris cum delirio et lethargo ad dies
fere sexaginta protracta, et a Medecis deplorata Tandem die
18 Novembris 1704 denuo accitis consultoribus, et praehabita
per Eminentissimum et Reverendissimum D. Card, de Carpinea
ad prescriptum Decretorum plena, ac distincta relatione
omnium in causa gestorum. Sac. Congregatio unanimi con-
sensu censuit posse annuente Sanctissimo juxtk Ritum S.R.E.
et Sacrorum Canonum dispositionem ad solemnem ejusdem
Beatae Canonizationem quandocumque deveniri.

Proindeque SS.D.N.PP Clemens XI ut Christi Ecclesia
Agni Sponsa nouo decore induta in Coelestis Regis oculis

163

i64 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

gratiam inveniat et tamquam Civitas in Monte posita majoribus
in dies irradiata fulgoribus semitas justorum dirigat, atque iis,
qui in tenebris ambulant lumen veritatis, et viam salutis
clarius ostendat, saepius ad Deum fusis, et indictis precibus,
et pluries Secretario et Pro. Promotore Fidei auditis, prasens
Canonizationis Decretum expederi et publicari mandavit.

Die 17 Maii Anni 1707
G. Card. Carpineus

Loco + sigilli. B. Inghirami Sac. Rit. Cong. Sec.

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI

THE SCULPTOR
(iSoo?-iS3o)

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI

Fero splendor di due begli occhi accrebbe
Gi^ marmi a marmi ; e stupor nuovo e strano
Ruvidi marmi delicata mano
Fea dianzi vivi, ahi ! morte invidia n' ebbe.

Properzia's Epitaph written by Vincenzo Botmcorso Pitti.

Le donne son venuti in eccellenza
Di ciascun' arte ov' hanno posto cura.

Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, Canto xx.

A LOVELY highly gifted woman, who is persecuted
by professional jealousy, is unsuccessful in love,
and dies at the height of her fame in the hey-day of
her beauty — have we not here all the elements for
melodrama and romance? And in truth the story of
Properzia de' Rossi, so vague in outline, so brilliant
in colour, has been the subject of a successful tragedy,
and of much bombastic fiction masquerading in the
guise of history.

To avow that Vasari is the sole original source for
the majority of our facts is equivalent, it will be said by
superior persons, to proclaiming that Properzia's story
is a myth. But in defence alike of Vasari and the
present sketch it must be urged that the worthy painter
came to Bologna when Properzia lay a-dying, and that
he heard first-hand the laments and reminiscences of
her fellow-citizens ; and secondly, that modern in-

167

i68 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

vestigation has reversed the doubts thrown on some
of his statements concerning her, and amply justified
his disputed assertions.

Thus in the Lives of the Painters, Properzia was
described as the daughter of a Bolognese citizen.
Alidosa, however, in his Istruzione della Cose notabile
di Bologna, confidently declared that she was the
daughter of Giovanni Martino Rossi da Modena. He
was followed by several subsequent writers, till at
length an early nineteenth-century biographer,^ chiefly
on the ground that she is generally styled Madonna
Properzia, suggested that Rossi was her married, not
her maiden, name. But that industrious delver among
civic MSS., Gualandi, has discovered documents of the
years 1514, 1516, and 1518, in which mention is made
of "Domina Propertia, filia q. lieronymi de Rubeis
Bononiae civis," and he believes this Girolamo to have
been the son of a notary, who in 1480 was living in
Strada Maggiore (now Via Mazzini), and in 1489 in
Strada San Donato (Via Zamboni). Thus we may
once more hold with Vasari that Properzia was a
Bolognese.

The date of her birth is given us neither by Vasari
nor by any one else : that of her death is fixed unmis-
takably by a great public event. She died on the day
of Charles V's coronation by Clement VI I, i.e. February
the twenty-fourth, 1530. From the amount of work
she had accomplished and the fact that her admirers
represented her as cut off in the fullness of her beauty,
we may conclude that she was not less than twenty-

' Carolina Bonafede, Cenni Biografici e Ritratti rf* Insipii Donne
Bolognese.

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI 169

eight or much over thirty when she died, and that her
birth consequently took place when the fifteenth century
was very old or the sixteenth very young.

Beyond the name of her drawing master, we know
nothing of her education save its results. Vasari says
that she was highly accomplished in every way and
especially distinguished for her musical gifts — " singing
and playing on instruments better than any woman of
her day in the city of Bologna."

Now this was very high praise, for Bologna was " in
her day " the most musical city in Italy. In the middle
of the fifteenth century it actually possessed a chair of
music, occupied by a Spaniard, one Bartolomeo Pareia,
and though for some unknown cause his lectures and
his office had but a brief existence, its institution is
significant and probably was not unfruitful.

The pedantic Achillini in his poem the "Viridario,"
printed in 1530, declares that the city is full of musicians
who can improvise on any given theme ; that there is a
sprinkling of more scientific composers and one noted
authority on counterpoint ; that there are five organists
of extraordinary skill, players on the lute and on the
lyre, and one gentle youth who has rare skill upon the
pipe. No great wedding could be celebrated without
the accompaniment of a complete orchestra.^ A drum
and fife band performed daily in the long balcony of the
palace of the Podesta ; and a certain Ludovico Felicini
had charming chamber concerts in his house attended

^ In the Diaiio of Jacopo Rainieri we have a list of instruments in
general use : " Liuti, vioUe, dolsemelle, ciavasembali, manacorde, organi,
violunni, pifari, cornitti."

170 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

by all the great people of the city. May we not fancy
that the gifted Properzia de' Rossi was sometimes heard
on these occasions ?

We do not know who were her music masters, but
we do know that her instructor in drawing was that
Marc Antonio Raimondi who was Francia's pupil and
Raphael's friend, who engraved many of the latter's
pictures " in such a manner that all Rome was thrown
into amazement," and who figures as one of the bearers
in the " Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple." It
was natural that he should set his pupil to copy some
of Raphael's works, and Vasari, who himself possessed
some of these copies, tells us that they were extremely
well done.

It would seem that at first Properzia, like many
another gifted young person, was uncertain which of
Art's paths to pursue, what mode of self-expression to
make her own. She had that keen, full, rounded sense
of beauty which makes the perfect dilettante and is
apt to make the imperfect professional. Such a sense
was the special dower of the women of the renaissance.
They played, they sang, they danced, they dabbled in
the classics, they wrote letters and made verses, and
were altogether charming companions, excellent critics,
graceful amateurs. Such was Properzia, and might
have been no more when, through a mere accident,
a feminine caprice, the true direction of her genius was
discovered. The discovery once made, the step from
the grade of gifted amateur to that of hard-working
professional was definitely taken.

It happened on this wise. Properzia took to carving
the kernels of fruits — apricot and peach and cherry

MINUTE CARVINGS ON ELEVEN PEACH STONES

MUSEO CIVICO, BOLOGNA

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI 171

stones. At length she produced a crucifixion — the
central figure, the onlookers, mourners, and executioners
being grouped in a pleasing composition, and each
separate figure treated with accuracy and spirit — all
upon a single peach stone. The subtlety and delicacy
of the work is described by Vasari as miraculous. In
the collection of gems in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
is a pendant, in the midst of which is set a cherry stone
carved with about sixty minute heads. It is generally
attributed to Properzia. An entire series of similar
carvings in the Museo Civico in Bologna is certainly
by her hand. It was presented to the city by Conte
Marsigli, heir of the Grassi family, the original owners.
Eleven peach stones are set in a device of filigree silver.
This is suspended so that both sides of the stones can
be seen. Unfortunately the device cannot be removed
from its place and examined by a window, and the
room is badly lighted ; so that the minute carvings can
be better studied in some engravings published and
described in 1829. {Descrizione di alcuni minutissimi
intagli di mano di Properzia de' Rossi, by Bianconi and
Canuti.) On one side of the stones are eleven apostles,
each with his name and a clause of the Apostles' Creed ;
on the other side are virgin saints, each with a motto
alluding to her special virtue or attribute.

We do not know when Properzia exchanged her
delicate knives and needles for mallet and chisel, or by
what transitional stages she passed from her "feminine
accomplishments " to professional labour hitherto mono-
polized by the sterner sex. But this is certain : the
second decade of the sixteenth century finds her
equipped for competition with the first sculptors of

172 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the day, and with a budding, but not yet assured, repu-
tation.

She must have carved something more than fruit
stones before, in the year 1524, the Vice- Legate invited
her to decorate the canopy of the high altar in the
church he had just restored outside the gate of
S. Stefano. Properzia joyfully undertook the commis-
sion, and a more beautiful specimen of the best period
of renaissance carving can hardly be conceived than the
lovely intertwining of flambeaux and birds' heads, of
fruit and foliage and sphinxes, which wreathes the altar
arch in the church of S. Maria del Baraccano.

About this time (whether a little before or a little
after her work in the church without the walls is un-
certain) there came to Properzia, as to all other young
sculptors in Bologna, a unique opportunity for making
money and a name.

In the last decade of the fourteenth century the
Bolognese, fired by the architectural achievements
of Florence, determined to build a church which should
exceed in size and splendour the lately completed Santa
Maria del Fiore, which boasted itself the largest of
Italian churches.

In February, 1390, the Council of Six Hundred
ordered Antonio Vincenzio to prepare a design. In
June the work of construction and destruction had
begun. The two arms of the immense Latin cross were
to abut on spacious piazzas, so there was a wholesale
and most sanitary clearing of unsavoury alleys and
crowded tenements, together with the demolition of eight
churches and some of the hundred towers ^ with which

^ See Gozzadini in / Torri ,Gentilizie di Bologna. The two famous
leaning towers, Asinelli and Garisenda, remain as specimens.

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI 173

the fourteenth-century city bristled. The work of con-
struction was necessarily less rapid, and little by little
its pace slackened, till in 1659 it came altogether
to a standstill, and has never since been resumed.
S. Petronio, as we know it, represents but one-half
of Vincenzio's original design, and ends abruptly with
an apse where the arms of the Latin cross should have
begun.

Even this half is imperfect in decoration. The western
fagade, which was to have been its peculiar glory, which
Jacopo della Querela came from Aries to begin, and
from which the youthful Michael Angelo drew inspira-
tion, remains unfinished, in spite of the fifty designs for
its completion which repose in the museum of the
church. At the beginning of the sixteenth century
there was, however, a flicker-up of zeal. It was pro-
nounced to be a civic disgrace that while the central
western portal was glorious with Jacopo di Quercia's
work, the lateral doors should remain bare, ugly, and
insignificant. The administrators of the fabric pre-
pared to act with vigour. They invited the sculptors of
the city to compete for work and to send in specimens
of their skill.

This is the chance of a lifetime for Properzia. She
quietly places herself among the ranks of male pro-
fessional artists, and enters on the path hitherto un-
trodden by women's feet, and rarely since her day
successfully pursued by them. Her test-work was a
likeness of Count Guido Pepoli — perhaps the bust
preserved in the first room of the Museo della Fabbrica,
but more probably a basso-relievo discovered in the
middle of the last century in a villa of the Pepoli.

174 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

It has been argued that Properzia's carving in the
church of the Baraccano must have been executed after
this event, for, had it been anterior, no test-virork would
have been required of her. But, in truth, no such
positive inference can be drawn from the requirements
of the administrators. Red-tape existed even in the
sixteenth century, and the carving in the Baracano — a
conventional design of intertwining fruit, flowers, foliage,
and birds — gave no guarantee that Properzia was capable
of dealing with the human form.

Vasari tells us that the bust not only satisfied the
administrators but "delighted the whole city" — a little
touch revealing that solidarity of civic life and intelligent
general interest in artistic and architectural matters
which was so marked a feature of the Italian city-state
and is so conspicuously absent in the modern town.

We do not know what portion of the work upon the
great west front of S. Petronio was assigned to Pro-
perzia de' Rossi, nor do the registers of the Fabbrica
greatly help us. They contain, however, the following
entries : —

"June I, 1525. To Madonna Properzia de' Rossi,
lire II for a Sibyl in marble executed by her.

"September 8, 1525. To Madonna Properzia de'
Rossi for an Angel executed by her, 10 lire and
19 soldi.

"August 4, 1526. To Properzia, 40 lire and 3 soldi
for the remaining two Sibyls, an Angel, and two
pictures." ^

' The writer was unable to inspect the MSS. of the registers. The
entries quoted above come from Dafia's accurate ancj detailed study,
" Sculture delle Forte di San Petronio."

JOSEPH AND THE WIFE OF POTIPHAR

MUSEUM OF S. rETRONlO, BOLOGNA

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI 175

We do not know what has become of the sibyls.
The angels are doubtless those in the chapel of Tribolo's
Assumption, the eleventh off the nave to the right from
the west entrance. They are graceful figures, but are
rather thin for their height, and do not quite correspond
with the great reputation of the sculptress. Vasari,
however, tells us that Properzia was not responsible for
their proportions, but worked from Tribolo's models.

The pictures were probably the bas-reliefs in the
museum of S. Petronio. They represent the visit of the
Queen of Sheba to Solomon, and Joseph and Potiphar's
wife. In the first the king sits on his throne, his
guards and great men around him. A figure kneels at
his feet, offering a garment of needlework. The Queen
and her maidens stand respectfully aloof. In the second
Joseph turns from the temptress, who, seated at the end
of a canopied couch, lays a detaining hand upon his
flying cloak. The picture expresses natural, vigorous
movement and action, but withal without violence or
contortion. The gestures are graceful, the harmony
of line unbroken. We perceive that Properzia has
been studying classical models.

Glancing backwards with the mind's eye to Caterina
dei Vigri's "Madonna of the Apple," we measure the
pace at which Art has travelled. Between the work of
our first two women artists of Bologna lie, to use the
famous formula of Michelet, "the discovery of the
world and the discovery of man." Yet, paradoxical
though it seem, the primitive Italian Madonnas and
their Byzantine forerunners had something of the
essential spirit of antiquity which the classical imita-
tions of the sixteenth and seventeenth century did not

176 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

possess. For Greek pagan sculpture at its best, and
Greek Christian painting even at its worst, strove to
express the abstract and the permanent as opposed to
all that was merely personal and momentary. Then
came the struggle of medieval introspectiveness and
lively religious faith against the bonds of Byzantine
conventionalism. The actors in Sacred Story were con-
ceived and portrayed as men of like clothes and
passions with the artist, — though perhaps of rather
different anatomy ; till, in due time, the social organism
was reinvigorated by the strong wind of Humanism
setting from Constantinople. Men bared their heads to
the breeze, and drew the intoxicating draughts into
their lungs. Pallid monastic fears were dispersed, the
cobwebs of scholasticism were blown away. " The
shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades"
became a source of unforbidden joy, and it was freely
recognized that

If you get sense of beauty and naught else
You get about the best thing God invents.

But the intellectual awakening of the renaissance was
penetrated by the inwardness and introspection of the
days preceding it ; and thus was generated an abnormal
development of individuality which was really fatal to
a re-creation of the spirit or art of antiquity. Man, by
the laws of nature, is " heir of all the ages," and cannot,
however much he may wish it, cut off the entail. To
the race, as to the individual, rare moments may be
given in middle life when the world is viewed anew with
the fresh and fearless vision of a child. But to both
youth comes but once, nor have any been permitted to

PROPERZIA DE" ROSSI 177

retrace Time's stream towards its source. Self-conscious-
ness is the burden of sane maturity, and the men and
women of the renaissance steeped themselves in pagan
culture only to quicken the self-consciousness which was
commensurate with their immense vitality. As they
understood the richness of their heritage the desire to
enjoy it to the utmost grew apace. Their passion for
self-realization was a flame consuming all the barriers
of morality. Their egotism was insatiable and un-
abashed. The moment and the actual meant so much,
that the abstract and eternal were ignored. The
repose, simplicity, and objectiveness of the "older
world " and its art were as remote from them as from
the modern American of fashion.

Let us now glance again at Properzia's bas-relief,
and note how in all respects it is characteristic of the
art and spirit of her time.

Secular art does not yet go abroad naked and un-
ashamed : therefore she takes for her nominal subject a
Bible story. Biblical archaeology is still in the womb
of time : therefore, as was expected of her, she provides
classical costumes and mise en scene. And with this
sacred pretext, and this Greek disguise, she tells a
modern love story, nay, if Vasari's gossip is to be be-
lieved, her own, giving us in the woman an auto-ritratto,
and in the man a portrait .of her lover.

One of her biographers — Carolina Bonafede — indig-
nantly repudiates this on dit as unimaginably incon-
sistent with womanly reticence and proper pride. To
the present writer it seems perfectly consistent with all
that we know of Properzia and the society of her day.
" It is not too niuch to say " — this is the late Mr.

178 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Addington Symond's summing-up against that society
— " it is not too much to say that neither public nor
private morality, in our sense of the word, existed."
And if there be any fact more patent to the student of
this period than the one thus emphatically stated, it is
that what we mean by reticence was an utterly un-
known quality. The only sensations it was held
becoming — especially in the male sex — to conceal were
physical fear and pain. For the rest the suppression
of emotion was a proof of callousness or guile — an
opinion still in some measure prevalent among Latin
peoples. Men gazed on all the facts of human life
with a frank childish curiosity, blinking none of them,
holding none of them common or unclean ; and free-
dom of speech was the natural correlative of this
fearless vision. See how Vasari records what he hears
of his heroine's amour. He writes of it as his con-
temporaries spoke of it, not as a scandal to be told
in whispers, but as an ordinary, if pitiful, incident to
be discussed at the family dinner-table with brutal sim-
plicity. He greatly pities the fair and gifted lady who
was " successful in all things but love," and he does
not strike the faintest note of blame, contempt, in-
credulity, or extenuation.

One half of Vasari's report of the fact of the amour
has been corroborated, if not actually confirmed, by the
documentary researches of Gualandi. A certain Fran-
cesco da Milano, described as a velvet merchant, brings
an action against Properzia for damage done to his
garden which adjoins her own. He describes her as the
" mistress of Anton Galeazzo di Napoleone Malvasia."
Anton Galeazzo denies the charge, and incidentally

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI 179

declares that he lives at a distance from Properzia.
The plea was dismissed from the criminal to the civil
court. On April 12, 1521, Anton Galeazzodi Napoleone
Malvasia and Properzia dei Rossi are again summoned :
the action is again suspended ; and then we hear no
more of it, the parties concerned probably coming to
an amicable understanding.

The information afforded by this case is tantalizingly
vague and insufficient ; but at least these three facts
emerge from it : — First : Properzia's address, which we
learn from no other source, and which shows us that the
" distance " at which Anton Galeazzo resided from her
was about three minutes' walk.^

Secondly : The existence of some kind of connexion
between them, and his joint responsibility for damage
done to adjacent property.

Thirdly : The popular belief as to the nature of that
connexion. It is possible, of course, that this belief was
a crude misrepresentation of a flirtation which was a
pastime for the man and the " whole existence " of the
woman ; or of one of those platonic friendships which, in
the case of young and handsome persons of artistic and
ardent temperament, usually end in the misery of one
or the other. It is possible also that the damages done
to Francesco da Milano's garden were the outcome of a
gay party at Properzia's house, when Anton Galeazzo
was the ringleader in some of the intolerable and in-

' The velvet merchant, and consequently Properzia also, lived in the
Via S. Lorenzo, a narrow turning out of the Via delle Casse, which
leaves the Via Ugo Bassi opposite the Hotel Brun. At the end of the
Via delle Casse we reach the bank of the Canal of the Reno. Here,
between the Via delle Casse and the Via delle Lame, was the Malvasia
house.

i8o THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

credible horseplay which was so frequently the recrea-
tion of the fashionable society of the day. Such
suppositions are perfectly compatible with Vasari's
story as to the bas-relief and Properzia's broken heart.
But the velvet merchant's accusation remains — an accu-
sation not made in an anonymous or private letter, but
written by a notary's pen as the formal description of a
person sued for damages. Anton Galeazzo's denial of
connexion with Properzia is subtly worded. It is not
retrospective, and may mean anything or nothing.

Three years after the close of this incident Anton
Galeazzo took his bachelor's degree (1524). Two years
later again Properzia was paid for her " pictures."
Some time, then, between 1524 and 1526 their relations
were severed, doubtless by the natural development of
the career of a well-educated young man of good
family. Of Anton Galeazzo di Napoleone Malvasia we
know nothing more, save that he married in September,
1538, when Properzia had been eight years in her grave.

Another action brought against Properzia corrobo-
rates another of Vasari's statements, He says that she
was persecuted by the mean and jealous painter, Amico
Aspertini, who maligned her to the administrators of
S. Petronio, and caused the price of her work to fall ;
and that on this account she gave up sculpture and
took to engraving on copper, which she did to great per-
fection. Now in January, 1525, an action was brought
against Properzia and a painter named Domenico
Francia by another painter, Vincenzo Miola. The two
had come to his house, he complained, and had abused
and attacked him, Properzia scratching his face. One
of the witnesses against the accused was Amico Aspertini.

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI i8i

After this show of weapons and flourish of trumpets
the plaintiff doubtless accepted some small compensa-
tion for the injuries to his visage and his sensibilities.
There is at least no further record of proceedings. But
what a pleasing side-light is thrown on the manners and
customs of sixteenth-century Bohemia ! And how
familiar is the scene which it illumines ! The angry
voices and excited gestures, the torrent of select insults,
the clenched fists, the feline fury of the woman ; the
threat " to make a process " ; the initial steps towcirds
the realization of that-threat, shortly succeeded by con-
viction that money will be saved by mutual capitulation ;
then the dismounting of both parties from their high
horses, followed by prolonged bargaining, the balance
being held by some wily avvocato ; lastly, the hand-
shaking, smiles, bows, and complimenti, servo suo and
riverisco and di nuovo of polite leave-taking — most
dwellers in Italy have witnessed repetitions of this
little bit of low comedy.

But one would fain know what was the subject of this
quarrel between Properzia and' Miola, whether the latter
was Master Amico's tool and accomplice, and whether
Domenico Francia was the disinterested champion of so
fair and persecuted a fellow-artist. One is tempted to
hope that the ugly and malicious Amico came in for a
share of Properzia's summary revenge, since from all
accounts the words of Shakespeare's Beatrice might
have been applied to him : " Scratching could not make
it worse an' 'twere such a face as yours."

This ill-conditioned fellow had doubtless no grudge
against Properzia beyond the fact that she was an
artist of rare talent. To suppose that he disapproved

i82 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

of female competition and was indignant that a woman
should have a share in the work going forward on the
west front of S. Petronio is to endow the sixteenth
century with one of the most curious and ugly features
of recent times. For " the notion of rivalry between
the sexes " is, as Bishop Creighton has pointed out,^ as
foreign to the Italian Renaissance as that of " rivalry
between classes in the State. All were at liberty to do
their best." Only here and there a dog in the manger
like Master Amico snarled sullenly at superiority of any
kind, — " never," says Vasari, " speaking well of any one,
however distinguished by excellence and ability, or
however well endowed whether by virtue or the gift of
fortune." This lack of magnanimity accompanied by
various eccentricities made him an object of general
ridicule and dislike. He was an industrious and facile
worker, had travelled much and made an immense
number of copies and models. These, however, he
always destroyed in order that no other artist might
benefit by them. As an assistance to rapid execution
he was wont to gird himself with a leather belt hung
round with little paint pots and bottles. Then he would
sit down, his great spectacles on his nose, and begin to
paint with both hands at once, chatting all the while
like a parrot — " a figure," says Vasari, " to make stones
laugh." One is not surprised to learn that in advanced
age he became quite insane.

Properzia was doubtless in no mood to humour or
propitiate this incipient madman. Stings and pricks
ignored in days of happiness are felt acutely when the
heart is sore. A profession may often be an excellent

' "A Learned Lady," in Historical Essays and Reviews,

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI 183

substitute for a husband, and may become an idol on
whose shrine all the aiifections of a life are laid. In
nine cases out of ten, moreover, the " labour we delight
in '' does " physic pain " ; but in the tenth case there
may be no reserve of physical energy necessary for
reorientation. Sorrow and disappointment may beget,
and in turn be nourished by, bodily disease ; and that
useful remedy, change of air and scene, so readily pre-
scribed and taken in our own day, was not available to
a woman of Properzia's class and time. One move,
however, she at length made, exchanging the house and
garden in the Via S. Lorenzo for a dwelling in a very
central situation. The beginning of the year 1530
found her lying sick in the Spedale della Morte.

This admirable institution owed its name of ill-omen
to the origin of the society from whose work it sprang.
The Confraternity of Death represented the efforts of
certain devout persons to meet for the love of God
some obvious needs of their fellow-men. In days when
street frays and nocturnal assassinations, conspiracies
and their discovery, were common occurrences, these
persons dedicated a portion of their wealth and time to
attendance on condemned criminals,^ the nursing of the
injured, and the burial of the dead. The work steadily
expanded, changing its character with the varying
requirements of successive generations ; till by the
sixteenth century the nursing of the sick had become the
raison d'itre of the society, their hospital a school of
medicine, and their premises a large block of buildings
lying between the Via Clavatura and the Archiginnasio,

' See Appendix to this part of the work.

i84 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

with an entrance on the great Piazza.^ The members
of the Confraternity no longer gave personal service in
the wards. A Rector, a Prior, and Administrators
appointed a Warden who was responsible for the
internal administration. There was an established
hierarchy of male and female nurses, a chaplain, visiting
physicians, house surgeons, students, and an apothecary
— in fact, in embryo, all the paraphernalia of the modern
hospital system.

But neither here, nor in any other hospital until very
recent times, were there rooms for paying patients
possessing relatives and means, who could well be
nursed at home if sickness were not such an inconvenient
interruption of the household's money-getting, pleasure-
seeking routine. Properzia's presence in the Ospedale
della Morte indicates one of two things — poverty or
absolute friendlessness.

As she lay in the women's ward sick unto death, the
sound of many voices and of many feet must have
reached her from the Great Piazza near at hand.^ All
her old associates were active and bustling. Master
Amico was erecting an immense triumphal arch in the
Piazza. Other artists were decorating a temporary
wooden bridge which should unite the Sala degli
Anziani and the great west door of S. Petronio ; and

' The Farmacia and the Portico della Morte still mark the site of the old
Spedale, which was the city hospital till the year 1801. Then a new
building rose on the banks of the Reno, and its revenues were mingled
with those of the Confraternity, whose oratory in the Via Clavatura is now
the office of the administration of the hospital and also its " Archivio."

° We have the most detailed information as to the occurrences and cere-
monial of these days from Giovio and from the Bolognese Cardinal, Ugo
Buoncompagni, afterwards Pope Gregory XIII.

THE MEETING OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V WITH
POPE CLEMENT VII IN BOLOGNA, 1529

DETAIL OF A I'lCTURE BY MARCO VKCELLIO IN THE HALL OF THE
COUNCIL OF TEN, DUCAL PALACE, VENICE

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI 185

the administrators of the building were arranging and
adorning the vast church against the day when Charles V
should receive at the hands of the Pontiff, whom three
years earlier he had humbled to the dust, the crown and
sceptre which twenty-six years later he voluntarily laid
down.

For days the narrow, roughly-paved, arcaded streets
must have echoed to the roll of lumbering coaches and
the tramp of horses' feet as the imperial troops marched
into the city, and the representatives of foreign powers
and the rulers of Italian States arrived to honour or
propitiate the spiritual and temporal potentates who
had been in Bologna since the previous October.

Did Properzia realize the meaning of these sounds,
and ask her nurses and physicians for news of what was
passing in the world without? Or did the tumult
merely strike upon her fevered brain with a vague sense
of unintelligible suffering ? Was the sleep which comes
with the dawn after a restless night disturbed at day-
break on the Feast of S. Matthias (24 February) by
the clang of bells from every church tower in Bologna ?
Or was her hold on life so far relaxed that all the
voices of this world seemed blurred and dulled as echoes
from a distant shore ?

Vasari, though he was a unit in the crowd which
employment, or hope of it, brought to Bologna at this
time, tells us few out of the many things we would fain
know concerning the last days of this unhappy, highly
gifted woman. But this he does relate : —

The business of the great day was over. For the first
time a king of the Romans had been crowned with the
imperial diadem outside the walls of Rome ; for the last

i86 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

time in history the medieval Empire had received the
papal benediction. Clement VII must have retired to
his apartments well pleased with the result of negotia-
tions which had secured the supremacy of Spain and the
Papacy in Italy, and made its smaller states his vassals.
But true, though base-born,^ Medici that he was, he did
not dwell on matters of statecraft, but prepared to
recreate himself with thoughts of art. He had heard
much, he said (perhaps from Marc Antonio in Rome),
of one Properzia di Rossi, a sculptress. He would like
to have converse with her. Could she be summoned
and presented to him ?

Inquiries were made, but the reply was unfavourable.
It was most unfortunate, but His Holiness was just too
late. Another Potentate, mightier than Pope or Em-
peror, had forestalled him. Properzia had died ^ that
morning in the Ospedale della Morte.

' Clement VII was the illegitimate son of Lorenzo's brother Giuliano,
assassinated by the Pazzi.

" There is some uncertainty as to her place of burial. Vasari says that
by her own request she was buried in the Spedale della Morte. By this
he must mean one of the hospital cemeteries, or the Confraternity church
of S. Maria della Vita in the Via Clavatura. He tells us that her fellow-
citizens, who had never been slow to recognize her merit, mourned her
greatly.

AUTHORITIES

The main authority for the life of Properzia de' Rossi is

Vasari. Vol. V (Firenze, 1878).

All other sketches and notices in the biographies of artists
or hand-books of art are repetitions of Vasari's facts.

Fresh discoveries from contemporary legal documents have,
however, been made and published by

GuALANDi, Memorte intorno a Properzia di Rossi, Osser-
vatore Bolognese, Numeri 33, 34, 35 (1851), and Memorte
delle Belle Arti, Serie V ; and something has been drawn from
the rolls of the Fabbrica by

Davia, Sculture delle Porte di S. Petronio.

Nothing really new is contributed by

Saffi, Discorsa^intorno a Properzia d^ Rossi (1832); or by

Carolina Bonafede, Cenni Biografici e Ritratti d' Insigiii
Donne Bolognese (1845).

For engravings of her work, see
Cicognara, Storia della Scultura, I, 11.

BiANCONi and Canuti, Descrizione di alcuni minutissimi
intagli di mano di Properzia de" Rosse (1829).

187

APPENDIX

THE "comforting" OF CRIMINALS

On the day of execution the members of the Confraternity
of Death accompanied the criminal to the west door of
S. Petronio, where he heard mass. Then the procession
walked round the Piazza and proceeded eastwards, in the
direction of the modern railway station, to the market-place
(now Piazza dell' otto Agosto), where they had built a little
church "dedicated to the decapitation of S. John Baptist."
In this church the condemned man heard mass for the second
time. He was then conducted to the Monte del Mercato
(now Montagnola), the place of execution. When he laid his
head upon the block, the member of the Confraternity whose
office was that of " Confortatore " held before his eyes a little
picture (tavoletta) which might bring some images of hope
before the mind of him who was about to be sent so rudely
from this world ; and the " Comforter " was instructed not to
withdraw the tavoletta till the blow fell, "so that he who
must die need not perceive its withdrawal." If the criminal
were hanged, not beheaded, the " Comforter " was bidden to
mount the steps of the gallows and hold the tavoletta before
his eyes till the moment he was pushed off, and then to cry to
him to think upon Christ's passion and call upon the Mother
of Sorrows. The night after the execution some of the
brethren came and removed the corpse for burial. This pity
and consideration for condemned criminals shines brightly in
a world of barbarous punishments and furious retaliations.
In 1331 the Confortatori were given by the Pope the privi-

188

APPENDIX 189

lege of releasing on the day of San Rocco one prisoner under
sentence of death.

The statutes and regulations of the hospital, which became
in later times the chief work of the Confraternity, are very
interesting reading. Some of these regulations, notably those
dealing with visiting hours and food introduced by patients'
relatives, have a curiously modern sound; but the spirit of
religious tenderness and of minute care for economy, which is
noticeable in all of them, cannot be said to have many
modern parallels. The life, conduct, outgoings and incomings
of the medical students, who were not taken under the age of
fourteen, were regulated with great exactness, as were their
relations to physicians and patients. One curious rule declares
that the gratuities given to their instructors were the perquisite
of the first surgeon, who was however obliged on the Feasts of
Christmas and Easter to make a gift of eatables to the second
surgeon. The students, if Bolognese, were allowed only a
fortnight's holiday in the year, \i forestiere, one month.

The hospital was pre-eminently for accident and emergency
cases : the administration was forbidden to refuse any accident
case, and to keep two or three beds always vacant and ready.
Infectious and incurable diseases were refused, and it is note-
worthy that phthisis was placed in the former category. —
Regole e Capitoli da osservari da i ministri e serventi delP
Ospitale di Santa Maria della Morte. Bologna. Per Gaspara
de Franceschi.

PORTRAIT OF LAVINIA FONTANA, PAINTED BY HERSELF

UFFIZI GALLERY, FLORENCE

CHAPTER I
LAVINIA FONTANA

This is her picture as she was :
It seems a thing to wonder on,
As though mine image in the glass
Should tarry when myself am gone.
I gaze until she seems to stir, —

And yet the earth is over her.

D. G. ROSSETTI, TTie Portrait.

IN the first of the four rooms in the Uffizi Gallery
which are devoted to the portraits of artists painted
by themselves, there hangs, " skyed," and in a bad light,
the picture of a figure in rich severe dress, with a round
white ruff, and dark smooth hair melting into a dark
background, whose sex can hardly be determined with-
out reference to the catalogue. And if a bright light
or Brogi's excellent photograph enables us to examine
this picture more minutely, we shall see that not the
accessories alone, but also the countenance has a
curiously hermaphrodite character. The upper half of
the face — the straight, rather thick nose, the strongly
marked eyebrows, the high cheek-bones — is distinctly
man-like. The lower half — the large flexible mouth,
the plump chin, the rounded jaw — is altogether femi-
o 193

194 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

nine. Eyes and mouth both smile ; but the smiles have
different meanings. The eyes are shrewd, intelligent,
humorous, critical. The mouth droops with a gentle
compliancy.

Yet in spite of its complexity, the face is reassuring.
It at least does not suggest any baffling gulf between
the artist and her work. It harmonizes with the little
that we know of Lavinia Fontana's life, and with all
that her painting reveals of her personality. It is the
face of a woman one could do business with, capable of
looking after her own interests, but incapable of heart-
less dealing. It is the face of a woman who smiles at,
but also with, the world ; who is never blind to the fail-
ings of her friends, but who regards them with kindly
tolerance. It is the face of a woman with a refined, but
not a sensitive, nature ; who cherishes few ideals in
respect to either art or life, but in both has a keen eye
for values. It is -the face of a woman who has reached
"the middle of the pathway of our life," who is well
content with her journey, and who has travelled the
easier for being unweighted with the impedimenta of
good looks. Lavinia Fontana, if not positively plain,
had none of Properzia's classical beauty nor Elisa-
betta Sirani's pretty grace. She was neither capable
of inspiring nor of feeling a great passion ; but she
attracted many suitors and married a good husband.
She alone of the four artists whose lives are here
recorded experienced all the phases of a normal
woman's life, and enjoyed an existence of common-
place happiness.

The happiness was, of course, not unclouded. Her
middle life must have been shadowed by the financial

LAVINIA FONTANA 195

difficulties of her father's old age ; and we know that
her husband was stupid, that her only son was posi-
tively wanting, and that her elder daughter became
blind through an accident in childhood. But her male
relatives, if foolish, were fond ; and against maternal
anxieties she could set the advantage of a cheerful
temper, the inalienable possession of a happy youth,
and the boon of professional occupation.

All three gifts she owed to her father, Prospero, a
genial good-hearted man, and a singularly successful,
though really mediocre, painter. His master was
Innocenzo da Imola, whose virtues he caught and
retained, but whose defects he exaggerated. Leaving
him while still a mere youth, Prospero proceeded to
Rome with an introduction to Michael Angelo, who
received him kindly and presented him to the Pope.
From this time onward he continuously enjoyed papal
favour, and from Julius III he received a pension of
three hundred scudi a year.^

When barely forty, he returned to his native city,
married, and settled down to a life of ease and comfort.
He was an intelligent man, with great social talents.
He had travelled with observation, had acquired a
smattering of classical learning and antiquarian know-
ledge, and possessed a showy acquaintance with what
Oretti terms " the fables of sacred and profane history."
He was moreover an excellent cicerone, knowing
au fond the story and the treasures of his native

' Oretti, Pitlori, t. II, Gozzadini MS. (122), says that Prospero was
" provisionato " and made Pittore Palatino by this Pope. There is
mention too of another pension of five scudi a month for the maintenance
of his family.

196 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

city. Best of all he had the faculty — which he trans-
mitted to his daughter — of making many friends and
few enemies, and of enjoying prosperity without exciting
envy. Such a faculty implies not only personal charm
— though that too must be present — but also a nice
blending of qualities and a rare balance of character
and manner. Consciousness of merit must be shown
without arrogance, generosity without patronage. A
^tact-producing sensitiveness to the opinion and suscepti-
■- bilities of others must co-exist with a skin too thick to
feel gnat-stings, and a nervous system too healthy to
quiver under imaginary wrongs.

Little by little the Fontana dwelling became the
rendezvous not only of artists, but also of men of
letters and dilettanti of all kinds ; and of this circle the
master of the house was not only the centre, but also
" the oralcle and judge," so that, according to Malvasia,"
" it was held sacrilegious to disobey his counsels or
dissent or appeal from them." His repeated election
as Massero or Steward of the Artists' Guild was but the
outward and visible sign of the position tacitly accorded
to him.

Now it happened that when Prospero had been
settled for some nine or ten years in Bologna, the
progress of the great public works brought together
within its walls a rare company of foreign architects^
and artists, with a crowd of lesser craftsmen of skill
and talent.

Bologna was rich with the prosperity of fifty peaceful
years of stable government. The papal rule, which

' By which I mean "forestieri" from other Italian cities.

LAVINIA FONTANA 197

began in 1506 and lasted till the French Revolution,
suited her well. It preserved her from internecine strife
and Milanese rapacity ; while allegiance to a distant
power was always more congenial to her temper than
submission to a native despot. Even a republic must
have a visible and ornamental head, and she was always
well content to receive and do honour to a Legate who
" reigned but did not govern." In the year 1 560, the
man who filled this office was the Pope's sister's son, the
young and saintly Carlo Borromeo ; and in Bologna,
as elsewhere, his energies were chiefly directed to two
objects — the reformation of ecclesiastical abuses and
the amelioration of the condition of the poor. A year
of terrible dearth was occasioning great distress among
the people ; — but the city treasury was full. San Carlo
accordingly determined to provide bread for the starving
by carrying into effect his uncle's cherished scheme of
providing the scattered " Scuole " of Bologna with a
single worthy habitation. Thus, in the year 1561, the
first and nobler^ home of the University of Bologna
was begun as a relief-work.

It was finished in a single year, and must have
furnished a livelihood to a multitude of unemployed.
It was faced by the fine colonnade which is to-day
the Bond Street of Bologna — the Pavaglione ; while
the following year (1563) a block of old houses on the
north side of S. Petronio was demolished to form the
open space, now named after the ugly statue of Gal-
vani in its midst, but originally known as the Piazza

' In 1803 the University was united to the Istituto delle Scienze and
transferred to the Palazzo . Poggi in the Via Zamboni. The beautiful
Archiginnasio is now occupied by the Communal Library.

igS THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

deir Accademia. Borromeo's architect was Francesco
Terribilia, who had just completed the adjoining
Portico della Morte.

On the other side of this portico another work was
proceeding. The northern side of the Piazza Maggiore
(now the inevitable Vittorio Emanuele) was assuming
its present dignified aspect under the direction of Jacopo
Barozzi da Vignola. With a minimum of destruction,
and much skilful uniting and reconstructing of existing
houses — traces of which appear in the unequal windows
— Vignola created an imposing block of buildings
faced with the fine Portico dei Banchi.^

Again, on the opposite side of the great piazza a
third work was in progress, so that all the centre of the
city, between the years 1560 and 1563, must have rung
with the sound of axes and hammers. The Piazza del
Nettuno, with its great fountain, which seems to the
modern Bolognese almost as characteristic a feature of
their city as the two towers, was now coming into being.
An island of mean houses was demolished, and the work
of construction was then entrusted to a Sicilian artist,
Tomaso Laureti. The Sicilian divided the lower part
of the fountain among three young sculptors, and en-
trusted its canalization^ to an architect named Grisante ;
but for an artist worthy to execute the colossus which
was to surmount it, he journeyed across the Apennines
to Florence to bring back with him that John of Douay

' This portico meeting the Portico della Morte, which again joins the
Pavaglione, forms an unbroken colonnade from the Via Farina to the
Via Orefici.

^ Water was brought from a spring found to the south-west of the city.
Now the water is from the aqueduct of the Setta.

LAVINIA FONTANA 199

who ever after the completion of his chef d'ceuvre was
known as Giam Bologna.^

The progress of great public works such as these
must have occasioned a perfect ferment of expectation
and discussion among the art-loving inhabitants of an
Italian sixteenth-century city. The reunions in the
house of Prospero Fontana must have been unusually
animated and interesting; and his little daughter
Lavinia, watching the strangers passing up her father's
stairs and sipping wine round his table, listening to the
criticism of little groups and to the general chorus of
mutual admiration, hearing each difficulty surmounted
described as a famous victory, and completion cele-
brated as an event of world-wide importance, must have
become acquainted early with the charms and failings,
the naive egotism, the ever-youthful enthusiasm of the
artistic temperament, and have accumulated between
her ninth and eleventh years a series of indelible and
educative impressions.

Her father's hospitality was becoming more and more
lavish, and doubtless many a needy artist preyed on his
good-nature. "Visse allo^grande e trattosi bene " — he
lived like a lord and did himself well — is Oretti's com-
prehensive description of Prospero's housekeeping. He
enjoyed entertaining his friends handsomely, and he
liked now and then to give away a picture and make a
present of a portrait. Such acts of lavishness and
display were but the natural expressions of a careless

^ Two arches of the partially-finished portico of the Pavaglione were
walled up to form Giam Bologna's workshop. There, aided by a skilful
modeller and caster named Zanobi Fortigiani, he worked at the great
Neptune with his attendant sirens, water-babies, and dolphins.

200 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

generosity of temperament, which in art revealed itself
in copiousness of invention, slovenliness of treatment,
an almost Venetian opulence of colour, and extraordi-
nary rapidity of execution. It is said that he painted
in eighteen days that chapel in the Palazzo Pubblico
where Charles V had received the iron crown of Lom-
bardy prior to his coronation ; and this, and similar
tours de force, won for him a cheap popularity which
continually spurred him to greater speed of production.
His facility, a proof of indolence rather than of activity,
grew like an insidious malady consuming his power of
taking pains, and thus exposing him in advanced life to
the attacks of the laborious eclectic school.

Already in his studio Prospero was hatching the ser-
pents who would later sting him to death. His pupils^
were at one time numerous, and many of them after-
wards became famous — in spite, as they averred, rather
than through the aid of their master. And indeed a
man of Prospero's temperament is necessarily an in-
different teacher. The possessor of great natural quick-
ness and acquired facility is apt to be intolerant of
a beginner's maladroitness ; and he whose stock of
patience does not suffice for the perfecting of his own
work has little to spare for the blundering efforts of a
conscientious learner.

Such a learner was Lodovico Carracci ; and one day his
'master intimated to him that he had mistaken his voca-
tion, and that Nature had not intended him to be a
painter. Carracci, whose mind and hand worked slowly,
and whose capacity for painstaking labour was as great

^ Among them were Lodovico and Agostino Carracci, Calvart, " II
Flamingo," and Tiarini.

LAVINIA FONTANA 201

as that of his master was small, went away sorrowful,
but not despairing. He betook himself to Venice to see
Titian, and copied with untiring diligence the work of
the Venetian school. Subsequent visits to Parma and
to Florence completed his artistic education. He re-
turned to Bologna the complete eclectic, and at once
took a position which mortified and amazed his some-
time teacher. Prospero perhaps saw no season to
reverse his original judgment, but he recognized that
the despised disciple had become, d. force de travail, an
accomplished master, and that he who in derision of
his slowness used to be called the Ox (II Bue) had
managed to leave behind all his swifter contemporaries.

Soon odious comparisons were instituted between
Prospero Fontana and his successful pupil. Seeds of
sedition were sown among his students, which, after
a period of fermenting discontent, ripened to revolt.
Prospero's studio was emptied, and the new school of
Carracci was proclaimed the Only Way.

To one of Prospero's pupils both rebellion and a
change of masters was denied. Lavinia Fontana — as,
later, Elisabetta Sirani — had the advantages and dis-
advantages of being a painter's daughter. On the
whole the advantages preponderated. But for the
relationship it is improbable that Lavinia would have
received any art education at all. The maidens of her
day were, as a rule, intended and trained for only one
profession — that of matrimony ; and the convenances,
and social and economic conditions of the time con-
spired to prevent them from dabbling in any other.
The guild spirit and regulations, with which the arts
and crafts were hedged, excluded even the most earnest

202 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

amateur, and the non-existence of the artist's colourman
prevented the emergence of the people who "paint a
little." When a boy first entered a studio he had to
learn how to prepare canvases, grind and compound
colours, and mix varnishes. Every school of painting
had its cherished recipes,^ and the painter's technical
knowledge, like that of every other craft, was trans-
mitted tg the apprentice for a consideration, and to
the son as an heirloom.

Thus Lavinia Fontana had reason to be grateful for
the state of life to which she was called — a state which
enabled her to exercise an art or " mystery," and inci-
dentally gave her a liberal education. For it was
necessary for her equipment as a painter that Prospero
should impart to her some of his knowledge of "the
fables of sacred and profane history," while her duty as
his daughter entailed that association with educated
men which is the best possible stimulus and complement
to book-learning. To enjoy the conversation of her
father's friends, to help in the material preparations for
their entertainment, and to have in the background,
correcting dissipation of energy and tendencies to
frivolity, the steady, daily routine of studio work — this
surely is a training of intelligence and character equal
to any devised by educational theorists and carried out
in modern schools and colleges.

Lavinia probably resembled her father too much to
excite the irritation which pupils of the tortoise type

' We all know the story of how Baccio Bandinelli went to Andrea del
Sarto ostensibly to have his portrait taken, really to discover his secrets,
and how the faultless painter found means to reveal nothing but the inten-
tions of the sitter.

LAVINIA FONTANA 203

roused in him. She managed to assimilate the good
and reject the evil of his teaching. She avoided the
failings which sprang from his impatient haste; she
reproduced his sombre sumptuousness of colour, and she
added to it a power of seizing and conveying individual
expression which was never his.

No record of work accomplished, like the catalogue
kept by Elisabetta Sirani, helps us to assign Lavinia's
paintings to their proper dates, and to trace the develop-
ment of her talent. We know only that it was her
faculty of "'catching a likeness" and for making her
portraits both truthful and pleasing, which first won
her a reputation. The days had gone by when the
harmless desire " to have one's picture taken " had to be
concealed beneath the cloak of religious fervour, and
men and women wishing to transmit their features to
posterity had to stand aside as supporters to a central
Madonna, or to kneel ^ humble adoration before the
Divine Child. Oretti tells us that the smart ladies of
Bologna found Lavinia's colouring so pretty, and her
representation of their finery so satisfactory, that " they
all wanted her to paint them, and made a pet of her."
They began, too, to give her large prices. Baglioni
asserts that before long she could command as much as
Vandyke.

In 1572 an event occurred which altered the current
of her life while facilitating her successes. Pius V
died, and was succeeded on the papal throne by that
Cardinal who had so graphically described the corona-
tion of the Emperor Charles — the Bolognese, Ugo
Buoncompagni. His pedigree, on both sides, was

204 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OP BOLOGNA

interesting and unexceptional. His mother was of the
Mareschalchi ; his father's ancestors were famous in
the annals of the University.^ Following the family-
traditions he studied law, took his doctor's degree, and
acquired a reputation as a teacher. Three cardinals to
be — Carlo Borromeo, Alexander Farnese, and Cristoforo
Maduzzi — were among his pupils.

By lawyers Gregory XIII will always be honoured for
his collection of legal treatises, Dei Trattati Magni.

Englishmen know him as the inspirer of fresh sedition
and favourer of the Armada.

French protestants execrate his memory for his
rejoicings at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.

Italians generally respect him as the untiring promoter
of education, the founder of many schools and colleges,
notably the Jesuit colleges in Rome, Vienna, and
Gratz, and the school for Greeks in Venice.

The Japanese perhaps remember him as the kindly
host of the first Japanese^ ambassadors ever sent to
Europe.

All Europe — save the great tract of Russia — is grate-
ful to him for his reformed Calendar.

But to the Bolognese this man of many parts and
aspects was and is first and foremost a Bolognese.
Every pope might be expected to leave in his birth-
place some memorial of himself and his pontificate, and
to bestow preferment when possible on its inhabitants.
But when his own city was also one of his temporal
possessions, his love for it could find yet more substan-

^ A Buoncompagni was a very famous teacher of rhetoric in the first
half of the thirteenth century.

"^ They took three years to come from their own country to Rome.

LAVINIA FONTANA 205

tial expression. The day after his election, Gregory XIII
addressed a letter to the Senate assuring the people of
Bologna of his special favour and protection. And these
promises he fulfilled. He converted the bishopric into
the see of a metropolitan, originated some beneficial
changes in the government, liberally dispensed those
cheap ecclesiastical alms — indulgences, and in spite of his
immense need and expenditure of money always dealt
leniently with Bologna in matters of taxation. The
great bronze statue^ placed in his lifetime above the
portal of the Palazzo Pubblico is the enduring token of
the gratitude of the Bolognese to their fellow-citizen,
Ugo Buoncompagni.

Gregory XIII had none of the innate love of art, the
rea\ flair oi the Medici popes; but he could apprecialte
merit when it was pointed out to him, and was par-
ticularly disposed to see it in a Bolognese. Prospero
Fontana, moreover, had enjoyed the favour of three of
his predecessors, and papal protection seemed almost
to be his daughter's natural heritage.

We now hear of journeys made by Lavinia for the
exercise of her profession to the country houses of the
Buoncompagni and their friends, of the approaches to
Sora and Vignola being lined with men-at-arms, of
speeches and receptions, and other extraordinary marks
of honour shown to the gifted and charming young
woman, who was too modest and level-headed to be
spoiled then, or afterwards, by the favour of the great.

' The statue was designed by Menganti and cast by Anchise Censor! in
1580. In 1797 it was saved from destruction by a curious subterfuge.
The triple crown was removed and a mitre was substituted for it, the
statue being rechristened by the name of Bologna's patron, S. Petronio.

2o6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

And then, as the climax of this growing reputation,
came the papal invitation, amounting to a command, to
go to Rome.

Lavinia had already sent thither a specimen of her
powers, — a picture ordered by Cardinal Ascoli for S.
Sabina on the Aventine. A little later she was commis-
sioned to paint a picture for S. Paolo fuori le Mura
on the " Stoning of S. Stephen." The subject and the
size of the picture were chosen for her, and on this
account it was something of a failure. She was not
accustomed to draw figures larger than life-size, and
was incapable of representing vigorous action and
muscular play and development. The study of anatomy
and hard drawing from the nude had been neglected.
Here it was that Prospero's training had been fatally
deficient.

But as a portrait painter her fame deservedlyincreased.
Her doors were besieged by fair ladies and fine gentle-
men, and the number of her commissions was always
in excess of the time at her disposal. In Rome, too, as
formerly in Bologna, her sitters were not only delighted
with her work but fascinated by her personality. All
doors were open to her ; she was received with marked
favour in every society. More than this, she had
numerous oifers of marriage from men whose station
in life was far more exalted than her own.

But Lavinia Fontana was not to be diverted from the
narrow way of Art. She foresaw clearly that marriage
with a man of wealth and birth would mean the termi-
nation of her professional career; that she would in-
evitably become absorbed in his pursuits and his
advancement ; that the claims of his position would

LAVINIA FONTANA 207

grow ever more insistent and those of her work would
take a secondary place; that little by little her social
slavery would be complete. She had found another
scheme of life and she adhered to it. The most desir-
able matches — " i piu belli partiti " — were refused, and
the young painter would say with a laugh she " would
never take a husband unless he were willing to leave
her the mistress of her first-beloved Art." Probably
she already knew well that such a husband was ready
to offer himself whenever she chose to whistle for him.

Her union with the son of a wealthy grain-merchant
of Imola exactly answered her requirements. It was
not the outcome of youthful passion, still less was it the
ideal " marriage of true minds." But it gave her the
protection indispensable for her good name, and left her
free to follow her true calling. The young man, while
content to take a secondary place in her life and affec-
tions, seems to have regarded her with a kind of dog-
like fidelity ; while on her side there was perhaps that
maternal interest and pity, which with many women is
Love's proxy rather than his kinsman.

The intimacy between the Fontana and De Zappis
families began in a manner predictive of Lavinia's
future attitude. Her father-in-law to be was one of
Prospero's numerous acquaintances, and was probably
accustomed to enjoy the artist's boundless hospitality
when his business brought him in from Imola. One
day he had a favour to ask Lavinia. A little difficulty
had arisen concerning the export of grain. A petition
to head-quarters, a word of explanation would set
things right. Every one said that the Legate refused
Lavinia nothing. Would she befriend him ?

2o8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

The popular young woman did as she was asked.
The grain-merchant was satisfied and grateful ; and
Lavinia began to feel interested in the family she had
placed under an obligation. A stupid young son fancied
he had a taste for art, and craved permission to
enter Prospero's studio. He was found to be lack-
ing, not only in genius, but also in ordinary capacity.
But Lavinia probably perceived at this time both his
incipient admiration and the solid moral qualities un-
derlying the dull exterior. He had learnt, at least,
to talk the painter's jargon, to understand the techni-
calities of art, to realize its difficulties, to value its
triumphs. Lavinia by and by found in the younger
Zappis a very appreciative and useful helpmeet ; and
now and then she allowed him to put in a back-
ground or help her with a bit of draping — though she
never permitted him to touch the more important
portions of her pictures.

Three children, two daughters and a son, were born
of this curious but peaceful unipn. None of them per-
petuated the gifts of their mother and maternal grand-
father, while the son unfortunately inherited, in a
cumulative degree the simplicity of his father.^ Gregory
Xni gave him a nominal position in his household and
attached to it a pension sufificient to relieve his mother
from all anxiety for the material future of her " idiot
boy." He passed his time chiefly in the corridors and
ante-rooms of the Papal Court, where he was treated
with kindly tolerance as a harmless buffoon.

Though Lavinia's married home was in Rome, it is

' " Confessavasi aver tratto egli quella simplicity dalla parte del Padre,""
says Malvasia.

THE GOZZADINI FAMILY

GOZZADINI PALACE, VIA SANTO STEFANO, BOLOGNA

LAVINIA FQNTANA 209

clear from the dates of two of her best pictures, the
Gozzadini family group (1584) and the Madonna with
portrait of the donor, of S. Giacomo Maggiore (1589),
that she paid at least two visits to her native city.
Probably her father's declining strength and financial
difficulties called for her presence. For Prospero, after
the fashion of Bohemia, had, in the days of his pros-
perity, more than lived up to his income. In spite of
constant employment and papal pensions he had saved
nothing against the inevitable day when the hand loses
its cunning and those which look out of the windows
are darkened. He had once been "the fashion," but
the public taste had changed. The Eclectics held the
field.

A letter has been preserved by Malvasia which
pathetically illustrates the reversed positions of the
Carracci and their sometime master. It is written by
one Pompeo Vizzani in Bologna to Monsignore Ratta
in Rome, who wished to present a picture to a church
in the former city : —

" As to the picture, I have spoken to the Carracci
and got others to speak to them, and they were willing
to undertake it; but when it came to speaking about
the price, their decision did not please me; for they
said they wanted two hundred scudi, which seems to me
a very big price, since till now they have always done
their pictures for sixty or seventy ; but now they begin
to trade upon their name. I have heard though that
it is their way to take much less than they ask at first,
and that they are apt to have their work on hand a long
time before finishing it.

" I have talked to M. Prospero, who said a great deal

2IO THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

about wishing to serve you. He would not be explicit
about price" — (how characteristic is this passage of
Italians in general, of Prospero in particular) — "but he
said that to other people he should ask one hundred
scudi, but from you he would be content with whatever
you chose to give, and that he would get it finished by
the end of April, and would do it with his own hand ;
there was no question of Madonna Lavinia."

The letter is dated December, 1593. Lavinia was
certainly in Bologna at that time, working on the Goz-
zadini portraits, hence Vizzani's assertion that Prospero,
not his daughter, could paint the picture ^required
by Monsignore Ratta. The remark possibly indicates
that, portraiture apart, the work of the father was still
preferred by his contemporaries. Prospero, when he so
eagerly bid for this commission, was eighty-two. He
hungered not for bread alone, but for the incense of
admiration which had once filled his atmosphere. To
the end he could not realize that the old order had
changed, and that he must give place to a younger
generation.

He lived to be eighty-five, passing hence in the year
1597. His life and that of his daughter together fill
exactly a century (15 12- 161 2).

Neither the death of her father nor that of her munifi-
cent patron, Gregory XIII, which took place in 1585,
materially affected the even tenor of Lavinia's prosperous
life, about which little is recorded, precisely because
it was of the happy, tranquil type which has no history.
We know, however, that during her long residence in
the Eternal City, which was her pays d'adoption, she

LAVINIA FONT AN A six

must have seen extraordinary changes alike in its out-
ward aspect and in its social conditions.

" I am in Rome after an absence of ten years," wrote
Don Angelo Grillo at this period, " and I hardly recog-
nize it, so new does everything seem, — monuments,
streets, piazzas, fountains, aqueducts, obelisks, and other
marvels, all the work of Sixtus V."

The best remembered of these public works was the
completion in twenty-two months of the dome of
St. Peter's, and the erection in the great square in front
of it of the obelisk which had once stood in Caligula's
circus. The latter achievement was accomplished by
a young architect named Domenico Fontana, a fellow-
countryman and probably a relation of Lavinia. But
the really stupendous marvel, and one which intimately
affected the life and comfort of every man and woman
in the city, was the breaking up of the alliance between
the nobles and the dravi, and the expulsion of the latter
from the papal states.

The story that Felix Peretti entered the conclave
a bent, infirm man on crutches, and that immediately
after his election he stood straight and erect, and in-
formed his terrified electors that he meant to be im-
plicitly obeyed, is one of those fictions which are truer
than accurate statements of fact. The Pope, whom our
English Queen Elizabeth, in admiration of a spirit as
determined as her own," declared to be the only man in
Europe worthy to be her husband, lost no time in
showing that he meant to be master in his own city.
A few hours after his election, an infringement of the
law against carrying arms was punished with immediate
death. Soon the wits of Rome had reason to compose

212 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

a dialogue between the statues of S. Peter and S. Paul
on the bridge of S. Angelo/ in which the former is
made to explain that he is preparing to leave Rome,
fearing to be punished for the cutting off of Malchus'
ear. Within a year of his election, life and property-
were tolerably secure in Rome.

After the death of Sixtus V, Lavinia saw the brief
reigns of eight popes. One of these, Innocent IX, was
a Bolognese, though as his pontificate lasted but two
months, he can hardly have had time to benefit his
countrywoman. But in fact Lavinia no longer stood in
need of patronage. Popes might come and popes
might go ; the eclectics might create a new mode
in art ; young Guido Reni might visit Rome ; and
still the current of the portrait painter's prosperity
flowed evenly along. Her talent was at once too
limited, and too unique and individual to be disturbed
by the emergence of new ideals and methods. Her
fame never grew less, and a few years before her death
a medal was actually coined in her honour.

' The usual place of execution. There, in Lavinia's lifetime, the
Cenci family were executed (1599). Readers of Browning's Ring and
the Book will remember how the Pope changes the place of execution in
order to make the punishment of Fompilia's murderers more public and
impressive.

' ' The substituting, too, the People's Square
For the out-o'-the way old quarter by the Bridge."

This cause Ulibre took place just a century after that of the Cenci.

CHAPTER II
LAVINIA FONTANA'S WORKS

THE best known, and perhaps the most character-
istic, of Lavinia Fontana's larger paintings is the
picture — No. 75 Sala C — in the Accademia of her native
city.

It represents a noble lady with her four attendants
kneeling at the feet of a tall friar, to whom they present
for benediction a naked, smiling babe. The babe is the
friar's godson, afterwards known to history as Francis I,
King of France. The noble lady in whose arms, or
rather in whose hands, he lies, is his mother, Louise de
Savoie, Duchesse d'Angoul^me. The friar is the
Calabrian, Francesco di Paola,^ founder of that reformed
order of Franciscans known as Minimes — the least.

The miserable superstitious Louis XI, lying sick unto
death at Plessis-le-Tours, heard of the miracles of healing
wrought by the holy friar in far-off Southern Italy, and
straightway sent for him, promising him great advan-
tages for his order. But Francesco di Paola, like his
namesake and exemplar, the " poverello " of Assisi,
wanted nothing, and believing that his visit to France
would not advance the spiritual welfare of the King,
declined the invitation. His refusal added fuel to the

' Paola is a village on the road between Reggio and Naples,
213

314 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

fire of Louis' sickldesire, and he besought Pope Sixtus IV
to command Francesco to repair to Tours. The Pope
obeyed the King, and the friar obeyed the Pope.
When Francesco reached Plessis, Louis grovelled at his
feet, beseeching him in a passion of hope and fear to
obtain from heaven a prolongation of his days. The
friar replied that life and death were in the hands of
the Creator, and that perfect submission to His will was
the duty of the creature. Little by little Francesco's
words and personality calmed the wretched king; he
succeeded in imbuing him with some of his own faith
and courage ; he soothed his dying moments, and ad-
ministered the last sacraments.

Louis' successors, Charles VIII and Louis XII, would
seldom permit Francesco to leave France ; and by
degrees the order took root there, and the name of
Bons-hommes, originally given to the Minimi by derisive
courtiers, was adopted and cherished by the French
people. He exercised a great and salutary influence
over Louise de Savoie, the wife of Charles of Orleans,
and when in 1 507 the friar died, lamented by all the
court and household, she prepared with her own hands
the winding-sheet for his burial. In 15 19 he was canon-
ized by Leo X; and when Lavinia was twelve years
old, a burst of righteous indignation at the outrage of
the Huguenots, who rifled his tomb and burned his
remains, caused a great recrudescence in the new Saint's
popularity.

Lavinia has represented him as a tall gaunt man,
whose height is increased by the wearing of high clogs.
He stands, holding in his left hand a pole as long as an
alpenstock, with his right hand raised to bless his

THE INFANT FRANCIS I OF FRANCE PRESENTED BY HIS MOTHER
LOUISE DE SAVOIE FOR THE BLESSING OF S. FRANCESCO DI PAOLA

PINACOTECA, BOLOGNA. SALA DEL TIAKINl

LAVINIA FONTANA'S WORKS 215

infant godson. The babe is being held by his mother
in an uncomfortable and seemingly precarious position,
but instead of weeping, wriggling, and slipping back-
wards, as we might have expected, he seems to stiffen
his little spine into a sitting posture, while gazing with
heavenly serenity into the friar's face.

His mother and three of her ladies are upon their
knees: the fourth attendant stands behind them, her
hands uplifted with a gesture of pious admiration. The
Duchess wears a sleeveless tunic like an ephod, the
hem of which is encrusted with jewelled embroidery.
The four ladies are in the ordinary French costume of
the period — tight-fitting, square-cut bodices, ruffs, puffed
sleeves, and close-fitting little caps. Their faces, atti-
tudes, and gestures are worthy of Lavinia's reputation
as a portrait painter ; and their adornments are painted
with the peculiar skill which won her the patronage of
all possessors of costly jewels. Each pearl and gem
has its value, yet they are not painted in the niggling,
microscopic manner of the miniaturist. The whole is
never sacrificed to the parts ; broad effects and masses
are preserved in spite of elaboration of detail.

The pillow and cloth held by the lady immediately
behind Louise de Savoie are very characteristic of
Lavinia's manner of treating the minutiae of feminine
costume. Look carefully into the picture ; place a
photographic reproduction of it under a microscope.
You will see that the insertion in the pillow-cover and
the edging of the cloth are of the fine retkella em-
broidery which is the peculiar needle-craft of Bologna
and the neighbourhood, recently revived under the name
of Emilia Ars. All this is clearly revealed by close

2i6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

examination ; but this detail of ornamentation does not
obtrude itself, and we might long be familiar with the
picture without even noticing the pillow or its lace.

Behind the kneeling figures is a flight of stone steps
down which come dancing two bare-legged damsels,
affectedly holding up their skirts, apparently for the
benefit of a group of men-at-arms who stand a little
farther back in the hall, but not so far but that they
seem to be relatively too small.

Above, badly shown in the photograph, is a musician's
gallery, in which one can dimly discern some figures
blowing long trumpets.

The background of the picture is rather confused and
purposeless, but the composition as a whole is entirely
pleasing, and the colouring, warm, rich, splendid yet
sombre, is characteristic of both Lavinia and her father.
The brown robe of the Franciscan tones with the dull
red tiles of the hall, and these again with the red under-
dress and golden tunic of the Duchess, whose costume
supplies the strongest colour of the picture.

There are three other pictures by Lavinia Fontana in
the Bologna Gallery. All are portraits. One, a man's
head (Camera G, 523), is hardly larger than a cabinet
photograph. The gentleman wears the black dress, the
round white ruff, and little pointed beard which con-
stituted the regular uniform of all her mele sitters.

The second portrait (Corridor N. 2, 686) is of an un-
known lady in a black velvet gown cut open at the
throat to reveal a fine white chemisette embroidered with
seed pearls and finished by the inevitable round white
ruff. The face is three-quarters, the eyes full. The

LAVINIA FONTANA'S WORKS 217

dark hair is drawn back from the intellectual brow.
The lady is not of an Italian type ; we might almost
fancy her a modern Englishwoman masquerading in
sixteenth-century costume. In the same room is another
portrait, a little picture of a young girl.

The pictures of a painter whose contemporary fame
exceeded her posthumous reputation, and whose forte
was portraiture, must necessarily be sought for chiefly
in the collections of private persons, or with dealers
who have bought from these collections ; and a steady
search in Roman and Bolognese lumber-rooms and
palazzi would doubtless bring to light many forgotten
specimens of Lavinia's work. The subsequent division
or disposal of collections, the extinction of families,
and the transference of property have destroyed the
practical value of Oretti's long list of the houses where
in his day her pictures might be found, and it is interest-
ing only as a proof of her industry and popularity.

There is, however, one picture which still hangs in the
place where Oretti saw it, and for which it was painted
— the large Gozzadini family group reproduced on the
opposite page. A photograph, however, necessarily
conveys a very unworthy idea of this picture. It
emphasizes the limitations imposed on Lavinia by her
subject and her sitters, and does not indicate how she
triumphed over them. It presents us with a photo-
graphic group, two plain, self-conscious women and
three commonplace men, who seem to have posed before
a camera — five people who have put on their best clothes
and are very anxious that these should "come out
well." But it does not show the character and beauty

2i8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

of these garments, and the amazing quality and work-
manship of the ornaments so lavishly displayed ; still
less does it convey the witchery of rich harmonious
colour by means of which Lavinia converted what
might have been a portrait group interesting only to the
Gozzadini family into a really fine and exceedingly
decorative work of art.

As an illustration of the dress and goldsmith's work
of the period the picture has extraordinary and unique
interest; and every student of the history of costume
should take a little trouble to obtain access to the
Gozzadini Palace, No. 58, Via San Stefano. Failing
to do this, he should examine the coloured reproduction
in Litta's Famiglia Celebre Italiana. Litta, bowing no
doubt to the limitations of colour printing, omits
Lavinia's charming background. The figures stand out
against white paper, and a dignified picture appears as
a banal fashion plate. As such, however, its value is
considerable, particularly if it be studied together with
a short paper describing it, published by the last direct
representative of the great Gozzadini house, the learned
Count Giovanni Gozzadini. {Atti e Memorie della Reale
Deputazione di Storia P atria per le Romagne, Serie III.
Vol. I.) In this paper extracts are given from a family
book of accounts and memoranda which contains careful
record of the purchase of some of the jewels depicted
by Lavinia.

The order for the picture came from one of the two
ladies who appear in it — she who caresses the little dog,
a spaniel of the type we call after their fancier " King
Charles." Both ladies were natural daughters, sub-
sequently legitimated, of the elderly gentleman in the

LAVINIA FONTANA'S WORKS 219

centre of the group, the Senator Ulisse Gozzadini, and
both were married to brothers belonging to another
branch of the same family, so that the name of Gozza-
dini is common to the entire group.

The picture is signed : " Lavinia Fontana De Zappis,
fecit M.DLXXXIIII." But Ulisse Gozzadini died in 1561
(when the painter was only nine years old), and Ginevra —
the plump lady on whose arm Ulisse lays an affectionate
hand — in 1581. But in 1538 the Senator's portrait had
been taken by Samachini, and Lavinia may well have
worked from this. Ginevra she must have remem-
bered, and may have sketched or painted previously.
No imaginary portraits would have satisfied Madonna
Laodamia, who wished to have a memorial of all her
dear ones ; and the plump figure, described by Count
Gozzadini as " tozza, rincignata, assai brutta " (ill-
shaped, enceinte, and very ugly), is painted with almost
brutal truthfulness to life.

Ginevra is arrayed in white brocade with an over-
dress of marvellous black lace, and a girdle of wrought
gold, jewels, and enamels. Behind her stands her
husband, Annibale Gozzadini, as " peaky," cadaverous,
and anxious as his wife is podgy and self-satisfied.
He was forty-five when his portrait was taken.^

The central figure, Paterfamilias Ulysses, is seated
behind the little table which separates his daughters.
He is a grave dignified man with an intelligent anxious
face, hardly looking the fifty-six years which he had
when he died, and which Lavinia, working from the
portrait taken when he was only thirty-three, doubtless

' He holds an open letter in his left hand. The writer has not been
able to discover whether this has any special significance.

220 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

found it difficult to realize. He wears the senatorial
zimarra and round black cap. Both he and his two
sons-in-law have little beards and moustaches clipped
in the French mode.

Camillo, who stands behind his wife Laodamia, is
a stouter, darker, more genial person than his brother,
whose junior he was by six years, albeit he married the
elder of the two sisters.

Laodamia is perhaps the most pleasing and certainly
the most gorgeously arrayed of the five figures. Her
face is that of an intelligent, cheery, but unimaginative
and rather prim woman of thirty, though possibly the
"prunes and prisms" expression is due to the self-
consciousness of the amateur model. She wears a
crimson robe and an over-dress of black lace. On her
bosom gleam the double row of those oriental pearls,
to the number of fifty-five, which Camillo Gozzadini
notes, in the previously mentioned account-book, as
purchased for " Madonna Lavinia mia sposa " for the
sum of two hundred and fifty-six ducats. On the thumb
of the right hand, laid on the lap-dog's head for the
purpose of exhibiting its adornments, is one of the two
diamond and ruby rings which cost her husband eighty
ducats, the other gleams on the forefinger of the left
hand ; while two of the four " pendenti da orecchii " of
pearls and crystals, priced at eighteen ducats, hang from
her ears, the other two perhaps appearing in those of
Madonna Ginevra.

All five figures wear round pleated ruffs of fine
cambric edged with lace.

The table separating the ladies and serving for the
display of their hands is covered with a dull green

LAVINIA FONTANA'S WORKS 221

cloth. The background, a warm brown in tone, is a
room in the palace, with a vista through an open door
of a second room, where a latticed window forms the
vanishing point, and gives a sense of air and light.

Oretti speaks of '' many pictures " in the Gozzadini
Palace. The writer has only been able to discover one
other. This is the head and shoulders portrait of an
elderly lady with a fat, pleasant countenance. As is
the case with all Lavinia's portraits, it is at the face that
the beholder first gazes, and only when this has been
examined does he look at the elaborate details of the
dress. The dress in this case is black, but — again a
characteristic of Lavinia — the texture is hardly in-
dicated ; we cannot tell whether the pleasant old dame
is habited in cloth, silk, or velvet. She wears a peaked
" Marie Stuart " cap, and a curious necklace, composed
of pearls and black lozenged-shaped stones.

Portraiture, as we have already seen, was not obliged
in Lavinia Fontana's day to go abroad masked with
religious fervour. When a man wanted to have his
picture taken it was unnecessary to simulate a longing
to make a votive offering. But it was of course possible
to entertain both desires, and it was convenient and
economical to satisfy them simultaneously, and for
a single price. Moreover, when a handsome gift was
given to a church, it was surely well to acquaint posterity
with the name and features of the donor.

So thought a certain Bolognese citizen, by name
Scipio Calcina, who at the close of the sixteenth
century restored the chapel in S. Giacomo Maggiore
erected by a member of his family one hundred and

222 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

seventy years previously. He determined further to
supply the Calcina Chapel with an altar-piece, and to
put his portrait into it, instead of merely recording his
generosity on a mural tablet as his ancestor had done.

So Lavinia Fontana was commissioned to paint
a Madonna and Child with attendant saints, and a
very fine picture she produced, rich and mellow in
colour as the work of the Venetian school. Her Virgin
is a fair and noble figure, in a red robe and dark green
cloak, seated on a throne canopied with dark green
curtains. The Babe — although the face is very sweet
and the pose graceful — is far less satisfactory ; the poor
modelling of the limbs reveals the great defect in
Lavinia's training : the lack of careful drawing from the
nude.

On either side of the throne are SS. Cosmo and
Damian in red robes and ermine tippets — life-like studies
of Bolognese doctors. Just below the dais of the throne
kneels a woman in a rich gold-coloured robe ornamented
with gems. She is looking up into the face of the
Virgin, whose arm embraces her with a familiar gesture
of protection. The lack of dignity in her attitude, so
different from the restrained adoring reverence of earlier
Saint Catherines, makes us at first overlook her emblems
— the coronet and a curious scimitar lying beside her
on the ground — and take her for another suppliant
member of the Calcina family. With the right hand,
from which she has evidently dropped the scimitar, she
points backwards, with a gesture of introduction, to a
man in a white ruff with a little pointed beard, the
donor Scipio, who kneels with his body curiously bent
backwards from the knees.

LAVINIA FONTANA'S WORKS 223

In the church of S. Maria della Pieta is a large
canvas which differs somewhat in character from any of
Lavinia's other pictures. The subject — the Multiplica-
tion of the Loaves and Fishes — brought her face to face
with a difficulty which her usual choice of subjects
seldom presented — the difficulty of delineating a large
and confused crowd, while concentrating the interest of
the picture in a small group of foreground figures. This
difficulty is on the whole very successfully met. Lavinia
depicts not the feeding of the multitude, but the
moment when the power of the compassionate Master
is put forth on their behalf. Jesus is seated in the fore-
ground with his right hand uplifted to bless the little
bare-legged lad who, brought forward by Philip, pre-
sents his dish of fishes. To the left, one of the disciples
is holding a flat loaf, while in front of him another,
seated on the ground, holds a stilus and a tablet, per-
haps for the purpose of calculating the number of
persons to be fed, more probably to record the miracle
he was about to witness.

The vermilion robe of this .figure and the dull pink
and deep blue and green draperies of the Master are the
strongest masses of colour in the picture, which is other-
wise low in tone. But in spite of the grey rocks, the
grey cliffs, the distant glimpse of a grey lake, and the
grey sky overhead, the atmosphere of the picture is
warm. We know that it is a hot evening, not a sunless
afternoon.

In S. Maria del Baraccano — the church which con-
tains Properzia de Rossi's carved "arco" — there is a
Holy Family by Lavinia. The Virgin sits beside a

224 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

table in a natural but ungraceful posture, sideways, yet
with body and head turned full. On the table is a
curious wicker cradle — a long basket lined with dull
yellow cushions. The Mother is taking her Child out
of this cradle. He stretches out his arms to the little
Saint John Baptist, a lovely laughing child standing by
the table. S. Joseph from the background watches the
three, his head propped on his hands. There is nothing
in this domestic group to inspire devotion ; but the
colouring is charming. The Virgin's robe is red ; so is
the drapery of the Baptist ; a red book lies on the
table. The whole picture is flushed with red gold tones,
harmonious and mellow as the tinting of ripe fruit.

Those who would see any specimens of Lavinia
Fontana's drawings — and in the rougher sketches of an
artist we always find the most intimate note, the surest
indication, of his quality — can do so by making due
application to Ispettore Ferri, of the Uffizi Gallery in
Florence. Ten of her sketches are in his keeping.
They are : —

No, 4.327 — A St. Ursula and her virgins in pen and
ink. The saint stands, crowned ; the virgins, all in late
sixteenth-century costume, kneel around. The sketch
is squared for reproduction on a larger scale, but the
write* has been unable to discover whether Lavinia ever
used it for this purpose.

No. 4.326 — A large sketch in red chalk, representing
the Presentation in the Temple. The Virgin and her
attendants are in classical draperies. The high priest is
an undignified figure, but the composition as a whole is
pleasing.

LAVINIA FONTANA'S WORKS 225

No. 72,/<Pp — A very slight sketch of a young girl's
head.

No. i2,igo — A child's full face.

No. I2,igi — The portrait of a little boy, with face
turned to the right.

No. I2,ig3 — The head of a man slightly turned to
the left. He has a moustache, and wears a small cap.

No. 12,194. — A large and interesting study in black
pencil and water-colour of two half-length figures — a
woman whose face is seen in left-side profile, a man
turning to the left and looking down.

No. I2,ig5 — The head of a man turned to the left but
looking straight. His face has a pained, anxious ex-
pression. He wears the usual ruffs and pointed beard.

No. 2ig6 — A man's head, full face.

AUTHORITIES

Oretti. Pittori, Tomo II. Gozzadini MS. 122 (the only
MS. source).

Malvasia. Felsina Pittrice, Vol. I.

Giovanni Gozzadini. "Atti e Memorie della Reale
Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Romagne" (on the
Gozzadini portrait).

Abecedario Pittorico. ■ Merely a recapitulation.

Zanotti. Vite dei Pittori, I.

Blanc et Delaborde. Histoire des Peintres.

Marco Minghetti. Le Donne Italiane.

226

ELISABETTA SIRANI

THE DISCIPLE OF GUIDO RENI
(1638-1665)

PORTRAIT OF ELISA15ETTA SIRANI, PAINTED I'.V HERSELF

PINACOTECA, UOLOCNA

CHAPTER I

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FUNERAL

Giusta sembra la doglia, e ben conosco

Quanto sia grave altiui

Perder sul fior degli anni amata prole.

FuLVIO Tbsti, Si cottsola la Marehesa Vittoria

Lurcari Calcagnina per la morle di suafiglia,

HALF-WAY up the stately nave of the Dominican
church in Bologna are two chapels larger and
more imposing than the rest. That on the south side
contains the beautiful sarcophagus enclosing the bones
of the founder of the order. That on the north side,
bedecked with artificial flowers, and frequented all day
long by kneeling worshippers, is the Cappella del
Rosario.

Entering this chapel we notice on the left-hand wall a
slab bearing the following inscription : —

Hic Jacent

GUIDO . RENIUS . ET . ELISABETHA . SiRANA
ViXIT . GUIDO . LXVII . Obiit . XV . K .

Sept . A . MDCXLII

ViXIT ELISABETHA . A . XXVI . OBIIT . V . K .

Sept . A . MDCLXV

The vault marked by this tablet was the property of
Signor Saulo Guidotti, a distinguished gentleman of

229

230 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Bologna, a lover of painting and a friend of painters.
He had held the infant Elisabetta in his arms at the
baptismal font, and when " Death lay on her like an
untimely frost," he offered her a last hospitality— a
place in his own tomb. Thither, twenty-three years
earlier, Guido Reni had preceded her; and, to the
fancy of her contemporaries, there was something
peculiarly fitting in this post-mortem union of the two
painters ; for though Elisabetta was a mere babe when
Guido Reni died, she called him Master and was both
the ablest and the most faithful of his disciples.

In this vault in the chapel of the Rosary, on the
evening of 28 August, 1665, the girl-artist was laid to
rest — quietly, as she had lived. But Elisabetta Sirani
had never been without honour in her own country and
among her own kindred, and her fellow-citizens were
determined to give public expression to their admira-
tion and their grief And thus it came to pass that, on
the fourteenth day of November following, the Domini-
can church was crowded and adorned as for a princely
funeral. The walls were hung, the pillars swathed with
sable cloth, gold-fringed. There were gilded wreaths,
swaying lamps, and shields displaying a variety of
mottoes, emblems, and devices — among them one
which excited marked and peculiar attention, the
picture of a fruitful, tree with an axe laid to the trunk,
surmounted by the words : "Invida Manus."

The crowd which filled the church doubtless resembled

a modern Bolognese congregation assembled for some

' high festival or solemn ceremonial. That is to say, it

was at once devout and irreverent ; skilful in making

the best of both worlds; greeting acquaintances and

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FUNERAL 231

singing responses with equal heartiness ; circulating
freely and persistently from one point of interest to
another, but withal without noise or unseemly push or
jostling. We are told that it was not only nmneris-
sima (most numerous), but also fioritissima (most dis-
tinguished), including many nobles and virtuosi; and
this implies a brave show of satins, velvets, and laces,
the gleam of jewels, and the glint and clank of swords.
These fine gentlemen — many of them good musicians,
more of them indifferent poets, most of them dilettanti
— listened with rapture to "the exquisite music" of
Signor Maurizio Cazzati, which accompanied the func-
tion, praised the invention of the artist Matteo Borbone,
who was responsible for the scheme of decoration, and
gave admiring ears to the lengthy funeral oration pro-
nounced by Signor Giorgio Luigi Ficinardi, Prior of the
Lawyers in the University of Bologna. And meanwhile
the vulgar herd pressed towards the picture of the tree
stricken by the hand of envy ; and we can imagine with
what expressive pantomime, what shrugging of the
shoulders, show of extended palms, and shaking of
clenched fists the Bolognese proletariat communicated
and expressed their suspicions and their execrations.

But the point towards which all currents in the crowd
ultimately tended was the catafalque rising in the
middle of the nave, intended to represent the Temple
of Fame. It was an extraordinary structure of imita-
tion marble ; octangular, with cupola-shaped roof sup-
ported by eight columns of sham porphyry. Seven
sides of the base were decorated with angelic figures,
mottoes, and emblematic pictures. On the eighth side

232 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

a flight of steps, guarded by siren-shaped candelabra
— an admired allusion to the name of the deceased —
led to the platform or tribune ; and there, in the glare
of lighted torches, was placed the life-sized, lifelike
figure of the dead artist, seated before her easel, in the
act of painting.

The portentous erection, with its gilding and its sham
marble, its fantastic emblems, intricate conceits, alle-
gorical devices, and touch of startling realism, seems
the very symbol and embodiment of barocco taste and
feeling.

The funeral oration was its counterpart in rhetoric.
Nay, in comparison with the bombastic grandiloquence
of Picinardi (who had profited only too well by the
teaching of the famous Achillini), the architecture of
the catafalque was of Gothic simplicity. The lawyer's
stream of eloquence almost bears us off our feet. His
periods are long lanes with only too many turnings.
We must needs take a classical dictionary as a road-map
if we would not lose ourselves in his wood (scarce visible
for the trees) of allegory and trope. Yet this oration,
"extant and writ in very choice Italian," under the
title " II Pennello Lagrimato " (" The Lamented Paint-
brush"), is not unprofitable reading. Here and there
among its gaudy flowers of rhetoric we may gather
sprigs of rosemary, fragrant reminiscences of the
painter's life, obtainable from no other quarter. Here,
too, we find a tribute to her spotless innocence, a virtue
rare among the ladies of her century and city. Here,
again, we have a list of her foreign patrons, and of the
distinguished persons who went to see her paint.

But chiefly is the oration worthy of our note because

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FUNERAL 233

we are informed that Picinardi moved his audience to
tears. Such emotion argues not only art and artifice
on the part of the orator, but also a close bond of
sympathy between himself and his audience. We ask
ourselves what were "the cords of a man" by which
this bombastic, self-satisfied lawyer drew his hearers ;
and the "Pennello Lagrimato" supplies an answer to the
question. In it we recognize the twofold cord of artistic
perception and civic patriotism.

This public mourning for a girl of humble, middle-
class family is the seventeenth-century counterpart in
black of the many-tinted scene in thirteenth-century
Florence when the Borgo Allegro installed the Rucellai
Madonna in the church of Santa Maria Novella ; or of
that yet gayer procession of the whole population of
Mantua in the summer of 1495, when Mantegna's "Our
Lady of Victory"^ was borne from the painter's house
to the chapel erected for its reception. It was the
expression of a love and respect for art which was not
confined to certain strata of society, but was diffused
through all classes, and sprang from the deepest founts
of popular feeling.

This popular, instinctive, artistic perception is un-
known in modern Europe. It was seen in perfection
only in the Italian city-state, where it was trained and
intensified by a sense of civic solidarity. Elisabetta
Sirani was, to the Bolognese, not merely a talented

^ The chapel and its altar-piece commemorated the success of the
Duke of Milan and his ally, Francesco Gonzaga, over the French. It is
one of ' ' life's little ironies " that the Madonna della Vittoria is now one
of the most valued possessions of the Louvre.

234 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

artist — she was their own painter. She had been born in
their midst. They hkd seen her womanhood and her
genius bud and blossom. She filled them with the
pride of ownership. She became one of the sights of
their city. They took their strangers to see her paint.
They greeted her pictures with sonnets. When she lay
in mortal agony they discussed her every symptom.
When she died they wept and demanded vengeance on
her suspected murderers.

"She is mourned by all," wrote the Gonfalonier of
Justice to Cardinal Leopoldo de Medici; "the ladies
especially, whose portraits she flattered, cannot hold
their peace about it. Indeed, it is a great misfortune to
lose such a great artist in so strange a manner."

And this letter was preceded by one from Count
Annibale Ranuzzi (for whom Elisabetta's last finished
picture was executed), who wrote on August 30 : —

" The day before yesterday, about 21 o'clock,^ Signora
Elisabetta Sirani died in twenty-four hours, of pain in
the stomach and bowels, to the extreme grief of the
whole city ; for day by day her power increased, so that
the greatest expectations were entertained concerning
her."

Nowadays we give and we receive less in the way of
neighbourly sympathy. The modern painter, trained in
London or Paris, lost in a crowd of art students, work-
ing and rising to fame far from his native place, never
receives the homage which the Bolognese accorded to
their Carracci, to Guido Reni, Domenichino, Guer-
cino, and the Sirani, father and daughter. Nor can the

' That is, according to our reckoning, between five and six o'clock in the
evening.

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FUNERAL 235

modern art critic, with his cosmopolitan standards of
comparison, see with the eyes, at once keenly discerning
and blinded with local prejudice, of the medieval
Italian citizen. Our impressions are weakened by the
speed of their succession. Our sympathies and affec-
tions are diffused and diluted : frequent posts, facilities
of travel, the telegraph, the daily newspaper, have made
us citizens of the world. It is very difficult for us to
comprehend the power of appreciation, the lack of per-
spective, the intensity of emotion created by restricted
space and immense leisure : it is well-nigh impossible
for us to realize the excitement caused by events of
minor importance within those city walls which shut
out th.c forestiere and shut in the seething strength of
class and civic sentiment.

It would never have occurred to Picinardi's hearers to
criticize his oration on the ground that it was less a
eulogy of the artist than a panegyric on her birthplace.
Yet, in fact, an assertion that she took her first steps to-
wards fame by coming into the world fra i Penati di
Felsina, forms the starting-point for a sketch of Fel-
sinean history from the earliest times and an excuse for
a perorating rhapsody of civic patriotism : " City which
for the clemency of its air, for the benignity of its cli-
mate, the vastness of its circumference, the fertility of
its fields, the amenity of its hills, the magnificence of its
edifices, the wonder of its spectacles, the number of its
inhabitants, the charm of its paintings, the nimbleness
of its spirits, the doctrine of its professors, the vener-
able order of its masters, the concourse of foreign stu-
dents, the splendour of its nobility, the gallantry and
generosity of its gentlemen, the beauty and gaiety of

236 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

its ladies, is with reason esteemed the centre of mirth^
the garden of delight, the dwelling of Flora, the throne
of Spring, the treasure of Pomona, the abode of Diana,
the inn of Fortune, the museum of Apollo, the school of
painters, the camp of Mars, the asylum of the Graces,
the nest of Love, the Venus of cities ; city

That hath 'mong other towns the place I trow
That hath the Cyprus 'mong viburnums low."

We do not speak thus of London, Paris or Berlin ; and
Picinardi's attitude towards the dead artist reminds us
irresistibly of the commendation bestowed in Gilbert
and Sullivan's most popular operetta on the man who
" resisted all temptations to belong to other nations."
But the Bolognese who gathered round the rostrum
greedily inhaled the incense of the lawyer's eloquence.
They thrilled with pride at the reminder that the painter
whose death they commemorated had been a native of
" no mean city." Picinardi spoke not merely to, hut for
them ; " and the energy of his words," says one who
was himself among that congregation, " drew from our
eyes tears, from our hearts sighs"; so that the temple
"but lately filled with sweet harmonies and sonorous
chanting, echoed to the sound of sobs and groans."

CHAPTER II

ELISABETTA AT HOME

I saw her upon nearer view,

A spirit, yet a woman too !

Her household motions light and free

And steps of virgin liberty ;

A countenance in which did meet

Sweet records, promises as sweet ;

A creature not too bright or good

For human nature's daily food ;

For transient sorrows, simple wiles,

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine ;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller betwixt life and death ;
The reason firm, the temperate will.
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill ;
A perfect woman, nobly planned
To warn, to comfort, and command.

THE Via Urbana is a quiet turning out of one of
the main thoroughfares of Bologna — the street of
late rechristened Via d' Azeglio, for centuries known
as Via S. Mamolo. On the right-hand side, above a
house-door marked by the number 7, we find a tablet
bearing this inscription : —

237

238 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

NEL GIORNO VIII, GENNAIO MDCXXXVIII

QUI NACQUE

ELISABETTA SIRANI

EMULATRICE DEL SOMMO GUIDO RENI.^

The house has been enlarged and internally recon-
structed, and is now let in separate apartments ; in the
seventeenth century it was a two-storied, modest, private
dwelling. It was Elisabetta's only home — the scene,
not only as the tablet states, of her entrance into this
world, but also of her exit from it, and of all the astound-
ing activity of her brief existence.

Of her childhood we know nothing save the solitary
fact recorded with mingled satisfaction and remorse by
Count Carlo Cesare Malvasia,^ Canon of the cathedral
church of San Pietro. This distinguished Bolognese
art critic and patron, whose Felsina Pittrice, in spite of
prejudice, inaccuracies, and omissions, remains a stan-
dard work on the history of Bolognese painting, was a
frequent visitor in the Sirani household, where the
pretty little Elisabetta, twenty years his junior, was his
especial friend. He tells us that, noting the child's
artistic bent, he with difficulty persuaded her father, a
painter of some note, to number her among his pupils.
When her talent developed, he encouraged her efforts.
When his prognostications of success were fulfilled, he
everywhere sounded her praises. But when she died,

' Here was born on January 8, 1638, Elisabetta Sirani, emulator of the
most excellent Guido Reni. Born in January, 1638, dying in August,
1665, Elisabetta lived twenty-seven years and seven months. The
" Vixit A. xxvi" on the tablet in the church of S. Dominic is, in fact, an
error.

"^ Son of Conte Galeazzo Malvasia. B. 1616. D. 1693.

ELISABETTA AT HOME 239

the victim as he believed of professional jealousy, he
was filled with morbid regret at having " dedicated her
to art " ; nay, he " almost wished " he " had never known
her or aided her."

Elisabetta's father, Giovanni Andrea, had been Guido
Reni's favourite pupil. His pictures, touched up by
his master, were often mistaken for Guido's own ;
and on the other hand, when Guido died Gianan-
drea successfully completed several of his unfinished
pictures. He became, in a sense, Guido's successor
as a teacher, and was one of the first masters and
directors of the Life school held in the house of
Count Ettore Ghislieri. Elisabetta could hardly have
found a better instructor, and Gianandrea must soon
have taken pleasure in the progress and the industry of
his new pupil. The theory that his original reluctance
to teach her proceeded from a suspicion that her fame
would eclipse his own accords ill with the paternal
pride in her success which he subsequently exhibited.
It probably sprang from a man's conception^ of " a
woman's true sphere" and a masculine contempt for
female art. Elisabetta's astonishing success and un-
alterable filial devotion appear to have effected his
conversion, for both his younger daughters, Barbara
and Anne, became professional artists. Their teaching,
however, fell chiefly to their sister, for Gianandrea
early in life became a martjn: to rheumatic gout, which
crippled his hands and prevented him for weeks together
from! holding a pencil.

It is evident that Elisabetta's education included the
outlines of Bible history, the stories of Greece and
Rome, a smattering of heathen mythology, and a slight

240 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

acquaintance with the legends of the saints. Such
attainments were de rigueur in polite society, and were
an indispensable equipment for an artist.

Incidentally, moreover, we learn that Elisabetta re-
ceived regular instruction in music and was an apt
pupil. Picinardi alludes to her harp-playing; and a
poem of one of her admirers informs us that she sang ;
while in her " List of pictures made by me, Elisabetta
Sirani," are three entries of paintings executed as
gifts " for my music master." Her sister Barbara sub-
sequently married a professional musician ; and we
may fairly conclude that the Sirani household were
to some extent infected by the " musical and theatrical
frenzy," as Signor Corrado Ricci calls it, prevalent in
seventeenth -century Bologna. Young and old, lay-
men and clerics, flocked to the opera. There was
street music and chamber music ; music in the churches,
oratorios and operettas in seminaries and convents.
Towards the close of this century the civil and religious
authorities, finding these musical tendencies subversive
of public decency and conventual discipline, made
strenuous but futile efforts to destroy them. It was
decreed that marriage with a dancing-girl or singer
should be held a disqualification for public office.
The Archbishop prohibited instrumental or concerted
music in churches. The Pope forbade the heads of
households to " admit any music-master or professional
musician, whether lay, secular, or regular," to instruct
their women folk, seeing that "music is most detri-
mental to the modesty fitting to the sex, distracting
them from their proper activity and occupation."

EUSABETTA AT HOME 241

Little as we know of Elisabetta's youth we confidently
affirm that it did not justify the papal apprehensions.
Neither her modesty nor her industry were impaired by
her love of harp and song. The sonnets of her ad-
mirers, the disjointed statements of Picinardi, the naive
entries in her own catalogue, and the biographical sketch
of Malvasia, together give us a perfectly distinct and
singulary pleasing impression of her character.

She has a warm heart and a lively temper, and Tsl
what Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have '
called a quiz, habitually amusing her family and friends
with her caricatures. But her manners are gracious
and winning, and she is always a courteous listener.
She is sincerely pious ; and, " su 1' imbrunire del giorno,"
when the fading light compels her to leave her easel, it
is her custom to retire for private prayer and medi-
tation. She is assiduous in tending her ailing father
— a sufferer from gout, and not always an amiable
patient. She holds his wishes as commands, save when
he urges her to spend time and money on her own
adornment. She believes in plain living and high
thinking. Her art is a pearl of great price; she is
luxurious in colour, opulent in invention, and can afford
to eat simply and dress plainly; "quella," says Picinardi,
"che ritendo la maesta nelle opere non la ricercava nelle
gonne, n^ su le mense." She looks out upon the world
with the candid gaze and dignified composure exhibited
by her portrait in the Pinacoteca of Bologna. Her
activity is immense. She rises early, and disdains none
of the occupations which Clement XI considered so much
more " proper to the sex " than the study of music.
She cheerfully performs the most menial tasks. She has

242 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

her own atelier, too, with quite a large number of girl
students. Oretti gives us the names of some of them.
There were her own two sisters, both of whom became
more than tolerable artists. There was Veronica Fon-
tana, later known throughout Italy as a first-rate wood-
engraver: the engravings in Malvasia's Felsina Pit-
trice were by her. Then there was Caterina Pepoli and
Maria Elena Panzacchi, of whom we know nothing
save that they came of good old Bolognese families;
Camilla Lanteri and Lucretia Forni, who painted
several large and tolerable sacred pictures ; and Veronica
Franchi, whose predilection was for mythological sub-
jects. Lastly, there was Ginevra Cantofoli, sometimes,
but groundlessly, represented as Elisabetta's enemy and
rival, who had much more talent than any of her com-
panions. Her portrait, painted by herself, hangs in the
Bolognese room in the Brera Gallery ; and there is a
good picture by her in that Calcina Chapel in the
church of S. Giacomo Maggiore for which Lavinia
Fontana painted her large Madonna.

Thus between teaching, and executing a steadily in-
creasing number of commissions, EHsabetta becomes
at an early age the principal bread-winner of the
family. All her earnings go to her father ; only the
presents, the jewels and trinkets she receives over and
above the stipulated prices of her pictures, are retained
for her own use. She rejoices in work and in success,
and is unspoilt by flattery. "All the gentlemen and
■ great persons who visit Bologna '' go to see her paint ;
and she has so much self-assurance, and so little self-
consciousness, that their presence is no embarrassment
to her. Her sweetness is not insipid. Her strength

EfclSABETTA AT HOME 24^^^

is free from self-assertion. She is comely and devoid 1
of vanity, eminently attractive, and entirely virtuous. /
Even the ugly publicity of a poisoning case fails to/
sully the whiteness of her fame. /

It is a fair picture, and seems all the fairer because it
hangs in a seventeenth-century Italian portrait gallery.
Around it are likenesses of frail beauties and professed
libertines ; of women whose passions and extravagance
were equally boundless ; of men who had made a fine
art of vice, who were epicures and conoscenti in de-
bauchery; of ecclesiastics who lived in pagan self-
indulgence and cared not at all for the feeding of their
flocks ; of " sheep " who never dreamed of " looking
up," and were hungry for no spiritual food.

It is surely a tribute to the healthy and enduring
influence of English Puritanism that the immorality
of the Restoration Court never filtered down to the
lower strata of English society ; whereas in Italy the
corruption confined in the sixteenth century to courts
and palazzi had in the seventeenth infected the
whole body politic. There was, moreover, something
peculiarly repulsive in the vice of the seventeenth
century ; it had neither barbaric grandeur nor medieval
naivete, neither renaissance splendour nor rationalistic
consistency — it was merely barocco. The crimes of the
period are bizarre; the tissue of adulterous intimacy
is of ugly and whimsical design.

In such an environment Elisabetta Sirani passed a
pure and industrious life, finding in the retirement of
her sick father's home, and in unceasing labour, the
shelter which in an earlier age she would have sought,
perhaps, like Caterina Vigri, in a cloister. Her life was

244 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

one of conventual monotony and calm ; the arrival of
an order, the completion of a picture, the visit of some
distinguished person who came to see her paint, the
feasts of the Church and the public spectacles and
processions connected with them, are its only mile-
stones. Now the country without a history may be
happy but is seldom progressive, and the individual
without one Tobtains tranquillity at the price of com-
plete self-development. Elisabetta's pictures reflect the
beauty and the limitations of her life. They display
ao^Jieimnine weakness, sentimentality, or indecision ;
indeed, the girl's sure touch and bold invention were
the features which most impressed her contemporaries ;
they are never pretentious tours de force ; they are
never without dignity. But they have no dan; they
do not set the beholder thinking, wondering. All is
on the canvas before him, "all is placid and perfect."
Elisabetta's execution was more than equal to her
conception.

It is perhaps futile, but it is certainly interesting, to
speculate on the effect which change of scene or of
emotions would have produced on this woman-artist's
work. Picinardi tells us that she longed to travel ;
and to estimate the fervour of her desire and the pain
of its non-realization, we must remember that her
training and her principles were those of the Bolognese
Eclectic school. The sonnet^ is well known in which

' Chi farsi un buon pittor cerca, e desia,
II disegno di Roma abbia alia mano
La mossa coll' ombrar Veneziano
E 11 degno colorii di Lombardia.

ELISABETTA AT HOME 245

Annibale Carracci formulated his artistic creed: He who
would be a good painter must go to Rome for his
drawing, to Venice for his chiaroscuro, to Lombardy
for his colouring : he must unite Michael Angelo's
grand manner with Correggio's sweetness, and imitate
Titian's truth to nature and Raphael's balanced com-
position. To a modern mind Annibale's prescription
contravenes the essence of great and sincere art ; and
is calculated to produce an effect similar to that arrived
at by Portia's English lover who " bought his doublet in
Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany,
and his behaviour everywhere."

But the sonnet represents the creed which Elisabetta
professed ; and it is a counsel of impossible perfection to
an untravelled painter.

We cannot doubt that even a brief sojourn in Rome,
in France, or in Venice would have enlarged her horizon
and enriched her imagination. It is more difficult to
prognosticate the effects of marriage and maternity. It
is possible that a subtler beauty, an intenser feeling
would have stolen into the faces of her sweet Madonnas
had she herself known a mother's joys and sorrows ;
but it is at least as possible that excessive or defective

Di Michael Angiol la terribil via,
II vero natural di Tiziano,
Del Corregio lo stil puro e sovrano,
E di un Rafael la giusta simmetria,

Del Tibaldi il decoro, e il fondamento
Del dotto Fiimatticio I'inventare,
E un po'di grazia del Farmigianino.
Ma senza tante studii, e tanto stento
Si ponga I'opre solo ad imitare
Che qui lasciocci il nostio Nicolino.

246 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

matrimonial happiness would have quenched her genius
and suspended her artistic activity.

Had I been two, anotHer and myself,
Our head would have o'erlooked the world,

is the cry which Browning puts into the mouth of the
" Faultless Painter," while showing how his art was
crippled and debased by the influence of an unworthy
spouse.

That this gifted and attractive woman should have
died unwedded at the age of twenty-seven — an age
regarded as young indeed for death, but hopelessly late
for marriage — is a fact which perplexed her fellow-
citizens, and has been discussed by her biographers.
There were two contemporary explanations of the
artist's celibacy. Some held, Malvasia tells us, that
Gianandrea prevented his daughter from marrying ;
while others believed that for art's sake she elected to
live single, and that indeed her only true affinity was
the master she joined in the grave.^ The mere existence
of the latter theory is a proof of the unique impression
which Elisabetta's strong and pure personality produced
on the mind of her contemporaries. For we must
remember that happy and respected spinsterhood of
the modern Anglo-American type is still somewhat of
a puzzle to Latin nations and was unknown in earlier
epochs. A right-minded Italian parent in the seven-
teenth century married his daughters young to preserve

' Innupta
Quia nulli digne nubenda
Farem sibi thalamum reservavit in tumulo
Guidoni Rheno conjuncta.

ELISABETTA AT HOME 247

their reputations and provide for their protection ; and <;^
when a life of chastity was deliberately embraced, it
was accompanied by retirement from this world, and /
inspired by the hope of corresponding compensations /
in the next.

That Elisabetta, with her refined temper and artistic
sensibility, was hard to please, that like Lavinia Fontana
she may have vowed to marry no one who would not
leave her " mistress of her art," we may readily believe :
that, as Count Beri's sonnet declared, she was " a lady
who knew not love"^ is probably too large an assumption.
Her latest and most conscientious biographer. Signer
Manaresi, has constructed a pretty if vague romance out
of certain entries in her catalogue. In the year 1661,
when she was twenty-three, she painted Love for the
first time ; and her Cupid, with his bow and arrows
bound together beneath his feet, pointed to his quiver
which was full of gold pistoles. In 1665 the Duchess
of Brunswick visited Elisabetta's studio, and in her
presence the artist painted a cupid in the act of wounding
himself with an arrow, while contemplating his own
reflection in a glass. " Intendami chi puo che m' intend'
io ec," are the words added to the entry of this picture.
It is an ambiguous phrase, and the concluding "ec."
may indicate that it is merely a quotation. It is note-
worthy, however, that contrary to her usual habit,
Elisabetta does not name the purchaser or ultimate
possessor of this cupid ; and it does not appear that
the Duchess of Brunswick ordered it. Signor Manaresi
believes that both pictures alluded to personal experience
and are charged with specific messages, and that jve may

' " Fu donna in terra e non conobbi amore.''

248 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

possibly infer from them that a deficient dowry was an
obstacle in love's true course. But if this fancy comes
near the truth, it after all merely reinforces the well-
founded and popular opinion that paternal selfishness
was the cause of Elisabetta's celibacy. There is a
passage in Malvasia's Felsina Pittrice which illuminates
the situation. He tells us that Elisabetta's catalogue
does not represent her total output of work ;^ among
other things it excludes sundry " small heads and little
figures" executed on the sly (de soppiato) without
her father's knowledge, in order that with the proceeds
she might oblige her mother in some domestic diffi-
culty. The father chained to his couch and irritable
from gout : the mother unable to make both ends meet
and afraid to ask for money : the grown-up daughter
obliged to aid her mother secretly, and unable even
to enter her little pictures in her catalogue, because
it was subject to the greedy scrutiny of her father, who
claimed "for the account and common benefit of the
house " the earnings which might have been spent on
travel or saved for a dowry; — it is a little sketch of
domestic tryanny, and it enables us to understand why
Elisabetta's parents were not anxious to arrange a mar-
riage for their daughter.

The interrogatories of the witnesses in the " Pro-
cesso" throw vivid side-lights on the condition of the
Sirani household during the last six months of Elisa-
betta's life. The state of things is dreary and de-
pressing. Gianandrea is a helpless sufferer : his wife has

' Oretti tells us of twenty of these pictures done "senza saputa
di suo Padre." (Gozzadini MS., 120).

ELISABETTA AT HOME 249

lately had a paralytic seizure : there are " servant
worries " — petty annoyances felt keenly by a busy
woman. The necessity for work is greater than ever,
while the combination of labour and anxiety is be-
ginning to tell on the artist's health and spirits.

In Lent, 1665, she experienced premonitory symp-
toms of her fatal disease : the pain in the stomach
" went away of itself without the aid of any remedy " ;
but the buxom, cheerful girl began to lose flesh and
colour, and to grow pinched and melancholy, so that
every one noticed, and wondered at, the transformation.

Towards the middle of August the pain returned,
increasing in intensity after eating. The family physi-
cian was at that time attending Barbara Sirani, who lay
in bed, sick of a fever, and Elisabetta took this oppor-
tunity of seeking medical advice. Dr. Gallerati said
her suffering was due " to some slight fluxion or
catarrh " ; and since " it was no time to take medicine,
the sun being in Leo," he prescribed merely " a little
acid syrup " to be taken in the morning fasting. The
syrup was duly made by Aunt Giacoma, Gianandrea's
sister, who presided in the kitchen, and Elisabetta
thought it did her good — " at times she felt the pain,
but it did not really trouble her " — and upon August
the twenty-fourth. Saint Bartholomew's Day, she was
well enough to go with her mother to see the brave
shows and gay doings in the Piazza del Gigante.

The Festival of the Little Vig, porcketta ox porcellina,
annually held on the day of Saint Bartholomew, was
the most characteristic of the many festivals which
brightened the life of the populace in medieval Bologna.
Its origin is obscure. The older historians declare

2SO THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

that it commemorated the fall of Faenza, that is to
say, the complete victory of the Bolognese Guelfs, and
that its name was derived from the fact, that Faenza
was betrayed by one Tebaldello^ (whom Dante conse-
quently consigns to the Inferno) because the Lambert-
azzi, leaders of the Bolognese Ghibellines, had stolen
from him "duos pulcherrimos porcos."^ But modern
writers, less ready to accept specious derivations, have
discovered traces of the Festival of the Porchetta^
thirty years before the fall of Faenza* The festa
probably commemorates the luckless Enzio's entry as a
captive on August 24, 1249 ; while the peculiar feature
of the day's proceedings, the throwing of eatables from
the balcony of the Palazzo Pubblico to the crowd in the
Piazza below, undoubtedly represents an ancient Roman
usage. The appearance and importance of the sucking
pig among these articles of largesse — roast fowls, bread,
salt meats^ — was doubtless due to the Bolognese par-
tiality for pork,* a taste by no means extinct, as the
large manufacture of salumi and mortadella testifies.
Moreover, we find that sucking pig and roast fowls were
prizes given both at Ferrara and Modena* at the annual
horse-races, and this previous to the Bolognese victory
at Faenza, and " secundum consuetudinem."

' " Tebaldello, Ch' apri Faenza, quando si dormia " (Inferno, XXXII,
122).

° Benvenuto da Imola, c. Inferno, XXXII.

* Guidicini, Cose notdbili di Bologna, Vol. II.

* Savioli, Annali, III, 232.

^ John Evelyn, who visited Bologna twenty years before Elisabetta's
death, remarks : "This Citty is famous also for sausages."

^ Muratori, Antiq. ItaU, II, 856. Mazzoni-Toselli, Rauonti Storici,
II, 523-6-

ELISABETTA AT HOME 251

The festival, after having been celebrated some five
hundred and forty-seven times, was killed by the en-
trance of the French in 1796. It would, however, have
been extinguished naturally and inevitably by the
growing habit of the villeggiatura. In the seventeenth
century wealthy aristocrats repaired in summer to their
suburban villas ; but the majority of citizens sweltered
in the dark and airless alleys of Bologna like rabbits in
a warren, enjoying long social evenings on the cool pave-
ments underneath the colonnades, and inhaling, un-
troubled by sanitary scruples, the miasmas arising from
the open sewers in the centre of the streets, where
every sort of garbage festered till slowly removed by
intermittent flushing. But in this twentieth century the
F5ast of Saint Bartholomew finds Bologna emptied of
all but the poorest and most indispensable of its in-
habitants ; and a crowd could hardly nowadays be
drawn to the Piazza in the August heat even by a
spectacle similar to that with which Marchese Ferdinand
Cospi delighted his fellow-citizens in the year of grace
1665.

To celebrate his third election as Gonfalonier, and to
welcome and impress the new Legate, Cardinal Caraffa,
Cospi determined to keep the Feast of the Porchetta
with more than usual magnificence. Besides the cus-
tomary largesse to the crowd, sweetmeats, fans, and
gloves were bestowed on the noble ladies who filled the
windows and balconies of the Palazzo Pubblico ; while
in the square below a marvellous pageant was arranged.
A pasteboard Vesuvius vomited flamds ; two lesser
mountains were the abode respectively of a knight and
of a sorcerer, and battle in mid-air was waged between

252 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the two, the knight being mounted on a pasteboard
steed, the sorcerer upon a dragon.

As Elisabetta and her mother stood looking at this
spectacle (we may presume from some reserved and
secure place, for accidents were common in the Saint
Bartholomew crowd), Margherita more than once in-
quired how her daughter felt. And Elisabetta answered
that " she was better " ; that " if she did not think
about the pain she did not feel it." '

Perhaps the novelty of the spectacle, the greetings of
friends, the gaiety of the scene, were really a nervous
stimulus cheating the girl into belief in her own cure;
she was at all events cheerful and uncomplaining till,
on the twenty-sixth, the pain returned with violence
after she had dined. Still she did not give in ; and
next day, after the mid-day meal, while her mother
went to her room to enjoy a customary siesta, and
Aunt Giacoma went out to see the fair which accom-
panied and extended the Feast of the Porchetta, the
artist repaired to her studio upstairs and began to
work at the picture she was executing "for the Em-
press," that is, for Eleanore Gonzaga, Ferdinand Ill's
widow.

But " about twenty of the clock," that is, about 4 p.m.,^
Aunt Giacoma, coming in from the fair, found her niece
descending the stairs with great difficulty. She entered
the room on the ground-floor where Barbara lay ill in
bed, and, sinking on to a stool, gasped, "Sister, I have
such horrible pain iii the stomach, I feel as though I

' The Bolognese reckoned their time from the Ave Maria of the pre-
ceding evening; twenty hours after the last Ave Maria, that is from
our 8 p.m., would be 4 p.m.

,/ ELISABETTA AT HOME 253

should die." And indeed Barbara thought she would
die there and then.

Margherita hurried in, drew her daughter into her
own room, and put her into her own bed. She was
already but half-conscious and bathed in a cold sweat.
Dr. Gallerati was sent for, but was not at home, and so,
the case being urgent. Dr. Matessilani was summoned
from the near Ospedale della Morte.

In the evening the family physician called, but his
remedies were useless, or worse. All night the mother
and Aunt Giacoma applied hot cloths to the cold body.
Sometimes they brought a lamp to the bedside, and saw
with sinking hearts that the patient's face was drawn
and death -like, her feet and fingers a dull purple.
From time to time the faintness and perspiration
returned ; there was no sleep, no cessation of pain.

Morning brought the doctor's visit. He bade Mar-
gherita send for the parish priest. The dying girl
confessed, and received the last sacraments.

As the day wore on she seemed a little easier, a little
warmer, and hope revived in the heart of the poor
father who lay in bed upstairs listening to the sounds
below, waiting anxiously for news and feverishly turn-
ing it over in his mind. But towards evening the
patient was again seized with faintness, and very
quickly and quietly, in the presence of the doctors,
Gallerati and Matessilani, she passed "from this to
another life."

The bereaved father demanded a post-mortem ex-
amination. It took place next day, "the first doctors
in Bologna " being present. Some of them — and of

254 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

these was the family physician, Dr. Gallerati — thought
they discerned clear traces of the administration of
"corrosive poison," and on the last day of August
Giovanni Andrea Sirani addressed a memorial to the
Legate and set the machinery of the law in motion.

CHAPTER III

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL

So in this book lay absolute truth,
Fanciless fact, the documents indeed.
Primary lawyer-pleadings for, against.

the trial
Itself, to all intents, being then as now
Here in the book and nowise out of it ;
Seeing there properly was no judgment-bar.
No bringing of accuser and accused,
And whoso judged both parties, face to face
Before some court, as we conceive of courts.
There was a Hall of Justice ; that came last ;
For Justice had a chamber by the hall
Where she took evidence first, summed 'up the same,
Then sent accuser and accused alike.
In person of the advocate of each
To weigh its worth.

Browning, The Ring and the Book.

'""P^HE death is announced of the poor Sirana from
JL poison given, it is believed, by a wretched maid-
servant now in the Archbishop's prison." ^ Thus the
Marchese Ferdinando Cospi, writing a few days after
Elisabetta's death. And from that time to this the
on dit has been repeated in romance, in guide-books, in

' Archivio della R. Galleria di Fireme, published by Jacopo Cavallucci
Rivista di Firenze, 1858.

ZSS

2s6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

histories of art, until it has acquired the consistency and
strength of indisputable fact.

Recently, however, a very powerful battering-ram has
been brought to bear upon an edifice founded on the
quicksands of medical ignorance and built of successive
suppositions. With the object of " cutting short once
for all the erroneous and unwholesome tradition con-
cerning the cause of the painter's death," Signor
Antonio Manaresi has published the entire Processo di
Avvelenamento, translated into Italian, and abridging
the Latin portions. To this publication we shall do
well to turn, not only, or even chiefly, because it affords
material for a right judgment on a specific question, but
because the nature of the accusation and the conduct
of the trial are intensely characteristic of the country
and the period.

The seventeenth century is the golden age in the
history of secret poisoning. Throughout the sixteenth
century the mania gathered force ; in the seventeenth
it spread to France and touched the shores of England.
In Rome there existed a secret society of women
poisoners to which some of the wealthiest and best-born
Roman ladies belonged ; while in Paris it was found
necessary to institute a special court for the investiga-
tion of poisoning cases — La Chambre Ardente. It is
hardly an exaggeration to say that the apprehension of
poison attended any and every malady the causes of
which were not obvious and certain. It has sometimes
been stated that in Elisabetta's case suspicion was
primarily awakei^ed by certain post-mortem phenomena
— the body swelled, the nose thickened, the face was
strangely transformed and aged. But in reality these

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 257

changes in the corpse merely gave a picturesque vrai-
semblance to the rumour of foul play already current in
the city. " I heard it said publicly in this city of
Bologna'' — this is the evidence of Donzelli, one of
Gianandrea's pupils — " that the aforesaid Elisabetta had
been poisoned, and this I heard before she died, even
when she was seized, as I heard say, with great pain in
the stomach."

The report probably originated in a dark hint from
Dr. Gallerati, who was completely puzzled by his
patient's symptoms and the powerlessness of his own
prescriptions to relieve them.

Elisabetta' s death was rapid, painful, and mysterious ;
therefore it must have been caused by poison. This is the
first tier in the fantastic edifice of supposition. And
the second is like unto it : Poison is generally given in
food ; therefore the poisoner was probably the maid-of-all-
work in the Sirani family. " I know not who could
have given poison to my daughter," — it is the mother
who speaks, — " but truly I have suspected that Lucia
Tolomelli our servant must have been the person who
gave it, either in soup or in drink, or in some other way,
because while serving in the house she did not lack the
means of doing this treachery to my daughter." Gian-
andrea and Margherita discussed the possibility of poison
as a cause of death much as a modern parent in like
case might consider the possibility of sewer gas. They
cast about them for a criminal as a householder to-day
seeks for a defective drain-pipe : and as the latter,
having localized his suspicions, sends for a sanitary
inspector, the former, having formulated his accusation,
addressed a memorial to the Legate.

258 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Those who are depressed by " the servant problem "
of the present day may find comfort in studying the
manners and customs of seventeenth-century lackeys
and waiting-women. Never were servants more worth-
less and more numerous. Display rather than necessity
regulated their numbers ; and the comfort in which
they lived relatively to that of the class to which they
belonged formed an attraction to the least desirable
characters. Wages were low, but the practice of tipping
was carried to a preposterous extent. Pert waiting-
maids were fee'd by the lovers of their mistress, and
successfully copied her intrigues. Greedy lackeys pre-
sumed at their own pleasure to dismiss or admit their
master's visitors, while they involved him in their inter-
household quarrels, imitated his vices, and wasted his
substance in riotous living.

Lucia Tolomelli was not, however, a fine lady's
waiting-maid. She was merely a maid-of-all-work in a
humble establishment, and had much the same charac-
teristics» virtues, and defects as an average modern
"general." She came with a good character, and though
no " treasure," evidently gave satisfaction, for her
mistress was surprised, annoyed, and distressed when,
after nearly three years' service, she suddenly "gave
notice." Her duties were to sweep and dust, help Aunt
Giacoma in the kitchen, and open the door to the visitors
who came to see Elisabetta paint. When such guests
were expected Lucia was allowed to comb and dress
her hair ; otherwise this luxury was forbidden her save
on Thursdays and Sundays, and then " she did it over-
night so as not to lose time in the morning." She had
no " evenings out," nor was she permitted to leave the

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 259

house save when required to accompany one of her
mistresses. She had her meals with the family, and
was treated with the kindly familiarity more common
in Italian than in English households. She received
the magnificent wage of four pauls a month, less
than twenty shillings a year, but she doubtless got an
occasional mancia from Elisabetta's visitors, and, like
other servants, she received a little present from the
family on the occasion of the annual St. Bartholomew
Fair.

But in her third year of service, shortly before the
Porchetta Festival, she announced her intention of
quitting the Sirani household. Elisabetta told her " to
sleep over it." She awoke next morning in the same
mind. Gianandrea summoned her to his bedside, and
made an appeal to her better feelings. Did she not
see that her departure was peculiarly ill-timed, con-
sidering that he, his wife, and his daughter Barbara
were ill? He would never have believed Lucia could
have treated the family so badly as to depart without
giving them time to find another servant.

But Lucia was obdurate, and the week's notice,
usually required both by master and servant in Bologna
in the present day, does not seem to have been obliga-
tory in the seventeenth century. Accordingly the Sirani,
anxious in spite of their annoyance to do what was
right by an orphan girl, sent for her cousin, one Casa-
rini, a tailor, who had placed her with them, and for her
brother-in-law, servant to Signer Gualandi, the Govern-
ment Secretary.

Now Lucia had fully intended to go to the house of
this Pagliardi, her sister's husband, but when Signor

26o THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Sirani asked the two men if either of them could
receive the girl, they both answered no. Casarini then
interviewed his tiresome young cousin in the kitchen,
and appealed to her self-interest, pointing out that an
orphan should not lightly lose a comfortable place.
Lucia was as little moved as she had been by the argu-
ments of the " Padrone."

Then by the advice of Gianandrea, Lucia's relatives
determined to place her temporarily in the " Mendi-
canti," or Poor House ; and the poor, then as now,
having little love for such institutions, they resorted to
a stratagem, telling her they would put her in " a family
outside the walls."

Thus " on the day of the vigil of the Madonna " (i.e.
on August 14), Lucia, accompanied by her brother-in-
law and cousin, left the little house in Via Urbana, and
made her way past the two famous leaning towers, and
along the street, and out through the gate of S. Donato,^
to the institution founded by S. Carlo Borromeo, when
Legate in Bologna in 1 560.

Ten days later, when Elisabetta lay in mortal anguish,
" it was said publicly in this city of Bologna " " that the
poison was given to Signora Elisabetta by Lucia when
servant in the house; because" — such is the evidence of
one of Gianandrea's pupils — " the aforesaid Lucia after
she had heard the aforesaid Signora complain of pain
in the stomach, gave notice and departed without
having any reason, albeit, as I have heard said, she was
entreated not to leave the aforesaid service ; but she was
determined to go away, without being able to state any
cause for doing so, and albeit it was nigh upon the
^ Now Zamboni.

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 261

time of the fair, when, according to custom, she might
expect a present."

Thus described, the fact and date of Lucia's depar-
ture become a presumption of her guilt. But was that
departure — as the Sirani and their friends represented it
to be — (i) quite sudden ; (2) quite groundless ; (3) con-
sequent on Elisabetta's symptoms ?

Now (i) Lucia herself asserted, and her statement was
confirmed by another witness,^ that she wished to depart
many months previously, and that Elisabetta's kindness
and persuasion alone induced her to remain. Moreover
(2) it is by no means true that she was " unable to state
any cause for her departure." On the contrary, she
stated a number of causes which were perhaps intrinsic-
ally inadequate, but which to her seemed weighty and
cogent. She was " sick of being scolded " she told her
cousin Casarini, sick of Margherita's nagging tongue,
and of the sense that, try as she might, she never
succeeded in giving satisfaction. Most of all she re-
sented the phrase of her Padrona that she " ate the bread
of idleness." Silly little servant-girl as she was, she
wearied of the dreary routine, the watchful strictness of
the invalidish household. She was probably not un-
comely,— we are told that she had lovely hair, — and her
master declared " she was ready to fall in love with every
one she saw." She wanted to " go out sometimes," and
to dress her hair " as other girls do." She admitted that
she was "well treated," but she was not happy in the

' "lo son informata che la detta Lucia, avanti che si partisse di casa
delli Signori Sirani, diasse di voler partire, chk lo cominci6 a dire di Natale ;
ed io lo so perchfe glie I' ho sentito dire." Interrogatorio di Anna Maria
Donnini, 26 giugno, 1666,

262 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Sirani household. She knew, she told the Judge, that
she should lose her fairing by giving notice previous to
the Feast of the Porchetta, but " she couldn't stand it
any more."

Again, (3) it is difficult after comparing and collat-
ing the evidence of various witnesses to connect
Elisabetta's symptoms with Lucia's departure. It is
indeed true that Lucia is the only person who mentions
the attack of pain during the preceding Lent ; but the
testimony of aunt and mother as to Elisabetta's pallor
and emaciation corroborate their servant's statement.
The pain returned, according to Margherita, on "the
second or third day after San Lorenzo," i.e. on 12 or 13
August, a day or two before Lucia's departure on the
14th ; but Lucia declared that her young mistress was
ailing for " a good while," un pezzo, before her departure,
and Anna Maria Donnini, the charwoman, speaks of
"a month."

And while it can hardly be said that Lucia departed
" as soon as she heard the Signora Elisabetta complain
of pain in the stomach," it is equally clear that the
girl spoke what she believed to be the truth when she
protested that the Signora was not ill when she took
leave of her. For neither the father nor the family
physician viewed Elisabetta's indisposition seriously.
Dr. Gallerati prescribed " a little acid syrup " ; and
Gianandrea, when he reasoned with the obstinate Lucia,
did not number his eldest daughter among "the
invalids of the house," ^ who would be inconvenienced
by the absence of a servant.

' Gianandrea's words are : " ritrovandosi ammalata mia moglie, Bar-
bara mia figliola ed io."

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 263

The Sirani family found an additional proof of
Lucia's guilt in the illness of the before-mentioned
Anna Maria Donnini, a girl whom they frequently
employed as messenger and charwoman. Now Anna
Maria was a minx, and hysterical to boot. She was
made much of by her employers, and discussed them
freely with their servant. She encouraged Lucia's
grumbling, listened to her silly but innocent con-
fidences and sympathized with her girlish vanity, and
then reported to the Padrone all that the girl " said or
did." Gianandrea affirmed that Lucia became aware
of this espionage and bore ill-will to Anna Maria.
But Lucia assured the examining magistrate that
Anna Maria had always been her friend, and that
there had never been any unpleasantness between
them.

Anna Maria and her mother were both employed in
the Sirani house on 14 August, 1665. The mother,
Antonia Donnini, went home to dinner ; the daughter
remained that she might "take a picture to the house
of Count Annibale Ranuzzi," doubtless EUsabetta's
" Carita " in which Count Ranuzzi's sister was portrayed
as " Charity," the children being his little nephews.

Gianandrea said that Anna Maria had better have
some food before she started on her errand, so that if
she " were kept waiting by the Signor Count she might
not suffer " ; and the minx accordingly repaired to the
kitchen. Was Lucia alone there ? This was the crucial
question of the trial. Lucia asserted the presence of
Aunt Giacoma ; Anna Maria declared that she found
no one in the kitchen but the servant.

It was a fast day — the vigil of the Assumption — and

264 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the family meal was to consist simply of a little fish and
pancotto, that is, bread soaked in water and then beaten
with a spoon to the consistency of thick gruel, when it
is flavoured with spices or eaten with salt and olive oil.
This common food of the poorer classes in Italy was
simmering in an earthenware vessel on the fire when
Anna Maria appeared and asked for her meal. Lucia
took a ladleful of the as yet unflavoured pancotto and
put it on a plate. Anna Maria tasted it and said it was
insipid. Lucia forthwith added something to the taste-
less pap. What was this flavouring? Lucia declared
that it was merely pepper taken from the kitchen
pepper-box which stood on the shelf among the pewter
plates. Anna Maria asserted that it was a reddish
powder, which Lucia called cinnamon and took from a
paper which she drew from her bosom. Pepper or
cinnamon, Anna Maria found it gritty, ate only a few
spoonfuls, and then went about her business.

Lucia then served the family meal in the chamber on
the ground floor, which for coolness Signora Margherita
occupied in summer ; and as soon as she and her
mistresses had eaten she prepared to leave the house.

Anna Maria was not kept waiting by Count Ranuzzi,
and she returned at the moment when Lucia's cousin,
Casarini, was conversing with Signora Margherita, who
had retired to bed for a siesta. Whether the minx went
in boldly to report herself, or whether she listened at the
door, she somehow learned to what kind of "'country
house " the unfortunate Lucia was about to be conducted.
She wanted to warn her, but opportunity was wanting ;
for Lucia was by Barbara's bedside taking leave of the
sick girl and of the Signora Elisabetta. Anna Maria

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 265

looked in and was included in the good-byes, Lucia
adding : " Anna Maria, se ho fatto delle ciarle ne
haveto fate ancor voi : ricordatevi pero che siamo tutte
due neir istessa posta." (If I have done any silly
tricks you have also : remember we are both in the same
boat.) The natural interpretation of the phrase is that
Lucia when the moment of departure came was a little
regretful and a little jealous. Anna Maria was now in-
dispensable to the employers who had always spoilt her.
She had been told to report to them if Lucia had
" followers " or stood at the windows ; and Lucia, aware
of the espionage, wished to remind her late companion
that she was after all no better than herself. But the
word ciarle is ambiguous and may be Vxaxi^'sXe^. jugglery.
And the following year, when the Sirani had enlarged
the bounds of their suspicions, Barbara remembered
Lucia's parting shaft and Anna Maria's immediate burst
of weeping ; and the little incident is recorded on a
loose sheet of paper lying among the MS. pages of the
Processo, as one of the reasons for suspecting Anna
Maria's complicity in Lucia's crime.

The following day the minx complained of giddiness
and pain in the stomach, and for fifteen days remained
in a more or less ailing state in the Sirani service. We
do not know when she told her mother that she believed
" Lucia had put something bad in the pancotto " ; but it
is a relief to hear that Antonia Donnini promptly told
her daughter that she " was a silly, fanciful girl." Nor
do we know on what day Dr. Gallerati, after paying
Barbara a visit, was requested to "look at this poor
young woman who is continually crying and has become
insensible." Dr. Gallerati complied with Margherita's

266 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

request, and then sternly told the minx to go about her
work, informing her mistress that there was "nothing
the matter with the girl, who must be in love or have
some nonsense in her head."

But when Elisabetta had breathed her last, Anna
Maria again became insensible, and the confessor of the
deceased hastened to her side. He felt her pulse, and
then remarked : " This is a queer attack ! She looks as
though she were dead, and her pulse has not changed."

In spite of doctor and priest, Gianandrea and his
wife never seem to have suspected that Anna Maria
was shamming. They regarded her as co-victim with
their daughter of Lucia's practices, and they sent her to
the Ospedale della Morte, where she was treated by one
of the physicians who had attended Elisabetta, Dr.
Matessilani. He gave her "ordinary remedies, not
antidotes or medicaments against poison," and he added,
" if her illness had been poisoning I should have known
or at least should have suspected it." He did not unfor-
tunately give his diagnosis of the case, at least he did not
do so in his formal interrogatory. It is quite probable,
and quite conformable to the usages of the times, that he
privately gave the examining magistrate his opinion of
Anna Maria's health and of the value of her testimony.
To a modern reader of the text of the Processo, it
seems clear that she was an unhealthy girl, nervous and
hysterical or epileptic. " People said she was consump-
tive," according to Lucia ; while Gianandrea owned that
she had been poorly before her attack of giddiness and
pain, and that on the occasion of the previous Carnival,
i.e. at a time of special excitement, " gli casca un poco
di goccia," a vague phrase indicating some sort of fit,

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 267

doubtless of the same character as her subsequent
attacks of unconsciousness.

Anna Maria, discharged from the hospital, called at
the Sirani house. She found its attitude towards her
strangely changed. She was told, indeed, that she need
not call again. Shortly afterwards she was arrested.
With her examination on June ist, 1666, a new phase
of the trial begins.

But here we must look back to the summer of the
preceding year, and review the course of the legal
proceedings up to this point.

The poor-house of San Gregorio dei Mendicanti
belonged, as a religious foundation, to the jurisdiction of
the Archbishop. There Lucia was arrested by the
Archbishop's officers in consequence of the report
current in Bologna which represented her as the
murderer of the popular artist. When, on the last day
of August, Gianandrea addressed his memorial to the
Legate — that is, to the head of the civil government —
the unhappy girl was already lodged in the Archiepis-
copal prison, and the fact that she was arrested without
the instance of the Public Prosecutor, under pretext
that she should not escape from the aforesaid place —
i.e. "the Mendicanti" — quickened and enlarged the
susplicions of the unhappy father. He saw in it an
attempt to shelter the murderess of his daughter from
the extreme penalties of the law, for the inmates of
"the Mendicanti" enjoyed ecclesiastical immunities.

Cardinal Caraffa transmitted Signor Sirani's memorial
to the Auditor of the Torrone, and the Processo verbale
opened the following day (September ist, 1665) with

268 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the clinical examination of Giovanni Andrea Sirani by
the Sub-Auditor of the Torrone.

On September 2nd Anna Maria was visited in the
hospital, and her deposition taken ; while the Court of
the Torrone ad effectum ut constet de corpora delictu
required a certificate of death from the priest of the
parish, and the depositions of three persons who had
seen and recognized the body after death.

A locksmith whose shop faced the Sirani dwelling,
and who had curiously looked through the window
into the ground-floor room where the dead artist lay :
a carpenter wont to stretch her canvases, who had
measured the body for a coffin : q guardian of^ the
parish of S. Mamolo, who had helped to bear the coffin
to the church of S. Domenico — these three persons
declared that they had known the deceased and that
they recognized the corpse in spite of its strange dis-
figurement.

On the evening of the following day, the keeper of
the prisons in the Torrone presented himself in the office
of the examining magistrate, and said that the Arch-
bishop's officer had consigned to his keeping the person
of Lucia Tolomelli.

Elisabetta's mother and aunt were next examined ;
then Gianandrea's three pupils ; and, on September the
seventh, Domenico Casarini, Lucia's cousin. The two
doctors who were foremost in maintaining the theory of
"administered poison," Dr. Gallerati and one Fabri who
had assisted at the autopsy, were examined on the
ninth and tenth of September.

Thus ends the first act of the trial. An interval of
several months ensued. Gianandrea chafed and fretted

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 269

at "the law's delay," and wrote bitterly to Cardinal
Leopoldo de' Medici that he " turned from the higher
powers of Bologna" to a heavenly tribunal, "where
justice is not suffocated ; for up to now, under pretext
of ecclesiastical immunity, this monstrous deed remains
hid."

But in fact the delay seems to have been occasioned
by hostility, rather than favour, to the prisoner. Her
removal to the Torrone did not imply a renunciation on
the part of the Archbishop of his carefully guarded
ecclesiastical immunities. Lucia's arrest in the Men-
dicanti protected her from capital punishment. But
when the evidence of the doctors furnished real ground
for the belief that a murder had been committed, the
girl was first returned to the Archiepiscopal prison and
then sent back to the " Mendicanti." At once dis-
charged from this asylum, she betook herself to the
dwelling of her sister, the wife of Pagliardi, in Via
Maggiore (now Via Mazzini). In this street, on April
nth, 1666, she was again arrested.

This time she was taken straight to that part of the
Palazzo Municipale called the Torrone, wherein were
the prisons and the rooms of the auditors and notary
of the Criminal Court. Here she was placed in the
women's prison, constructed early in the century by
Pietro Fiorentino.^ And on the twenty-fourth of Apjil,

^ "And I arranged the prisons under the Legation of the aforesaid
Cardinal. But first I had made the sick-room (infirmaria) and the women's
prison ; and I raised the Tower and made a big room where the punish-
ment of the strappado is given. And I repaired other prisons which were
uninhabitable under the government of Monsignore Dandino, then vice-
legate of Cardinal Montalto." (MS. record of Pietro Fiorentino iii the
University Library, Bologna.)

270 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

1666, she appeared for the first time before the examin-
ing magistrate.

This is the end of the second act of the trial. After
it, proceedings are again suspended. Nine weeks later
Act III opens with the appearance of Anna Maria in
the character of Second Murderer.

The girl still stuck to her tale of the " reddish powder "
taken from a packet drawn from Lucia's bosom ; but
the tone of her interrogatorio is very different from
that of her previous deposition in the hospital. There,
petted and influenced by the Sirani, she declared that
Lucia " wished her ill " and had certainly put " some-
thing bad " in the pancotto. Now, with the Sirani
doors closed against her, Lucia was " a good girl " who
had ever been and was still her friend. Nor had she
herself suspected that " her sickness came from poison
given in the form of the powder, but Signora Margherita
had told her it must have been poison, like that which
had been given to Signora Elisabetta."

On the same loose sheet among the MS. records of
the Processo on which Anna Maria's strange seizures are
described, there is the following curious note : " As to
the matter of the powder given to Anna Maria it may
be that it was really innocuous, but was christened poison
by the aforesaid Anna Maria to cover her crime and
throw the guilt back upon Lucia,"

But if the reddish powder were innocuous, what
indication was there that the Sirani's servant girl ever
had poison in her possession ? As long as Anna Maria
is held to be Elisabetta's fellow-victim, who escaped
death only because she consumed but two or three
spoonfuls of the poisonous pancotto, we have a

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 271

coherent and fairly plausible case against Lucia. But
when she is transformed into an accomplice, and her
illness and its cause are subtracted from the sum of the
evidence against the accused, it is difficult to see what
is left to indicate Lucia's guilt. There remains only the
fact of her departure from a house where she had long
been discontented.

On August the fourth, Lucia was again examined.
Her straightforward answers are repetitions of those
given in the previous April. The two girls were then
confronted. Each stuck to her previous statement as
to the flavouring added to the pancotto — which was
cinnamon-coloured according to Anna Maria, and was
ordinary pepper from the kitchen pepper-box accord-
ing to Lucia. Lucia was invited, but refused, to ques-
tion Anna Maria. Thus ended the third act of the
trial.

The fourth act opens with the orations of the law-
yers for the defence and for the prosecution. Nicola
de Lemmi, who appeared procuratore intercessore et
escusatore, was probably called by the Committee for the
Defence of the Poor (Ufficio della Difesa dei Poveri),
a body which has, unfortunately, no modern counterpart.
He contended that there was no case against the
accused, while her previous good character and her
orderly and religious habits — she " was accustomed to
confess and communicate regularly every year and also
upon the great festivals " — formed a presumption of in-
nocence. On the other hand Bianchini, the counsel for
the prosecution and the personal friend of the Sirani,
vehemently maintained the dangerous juridical doctrine
that the graver the crime and the harder to prove, the

272 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

more allowable it is " to proceed by way of conjecture,
presumption, and partial indication." The perforation
of the stomach, he maintained, was an indication of
administered corrosive poison. Again, the sudden
sickening in the midst of robust health (a mistaken
assertion this, for Elisabetta had ailed for months), the
purple extremities, the changes in the corpse, were the
very signs and tests of poison enunciated by Galen.
In short, the medical evidence sufficed to prove the fact
of the crime ; while it was unlikely that anything more
definite would be discovered unless the prisoner were
tortured.

Torture was not resorted to — an omission which the
Sirani and their friends viewed as an evidence of the
prisoner's protection by some person in authority. But
by the seventeenth century torture was kept within
certain prescribed limits. It was illegal when there
was no actual proof of crime, and here, in spite of
Bianchini's assertion to the contrary, it was held " non
constare satis corpore delicti." It was known that
two at least of the doctors present at the autopsy
held the theory of " generated poison " in contradis-
tinction to that of " administered poison '' ; and that
they had not already been examined, though Dr.
Gallerati and Dr. Fabri had appeared as experts for
the prosecution more than a year before, sufficiently
indicates that there was no miscarriage of justice in
favour of the accused, and that if "the trial "were
"ill -conducted," it was because, as Malvasia reluc-
tantly admits, "the Auditor always seemed to favour
Signor Sirani."

At the eleventh hour these two doctors, Matessilani

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 273

and Oretti, were summoned by Monari, "Advocate of the
Poor," as experts for the defence. They declared that
to the best of their belief Elisabetta Sirani had died a
natural death.

Lucia Tolomelli's guilt was non - proven ; never-
theless, in deference to the strong popular feeling
against her, she was banished from the Legations.
" A light sentence if guilty, a heavy and undeserved if
innocent" is Malvasia's comment; and he points out
that if there were no ground for torture, there could be
none for exile. His own attitude appears to be one of
suspended judgment as regards Lucia's instrumentality,
but of certainty rfespecting the fact of Elisabetta's
death by a mysterious invida manus. He declares that
his Christianity and his cloth hardly restrain him from
cursing the impious being who had deprived the world
of so great an artist ; while he alludes to some one who,
when the proud parents used to display the gifts pre-
sented to their daughter by illustrious sitters, looked on
with such greedy eyes and such obviously reluctant
praises that the observant Canon warned his friend
Sirani that this person was consumed with envy. Lucia
was asked by the examining magistrate if she knew
one Lorenzo Zanichelli. Anna Maria was asked if she
had ever talked with a red-haired painter. Both girls
answered in the negative. Perhaps this red-haired artist
was the person Malvasia mentally accused ; perhaps
Gianandrea also had him in his mind when he declared :
" I suspect that the aforesaid Lucia has administered
poison at the instance of another, because we are not
at enmity with any one, therefore I hold that the afore-
said, my daughter, has been poisoned on account of

274 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

her talent, that is, that some one has caused her to be
poisoned out of envy."

Besides alluding obscurely to his own theory of the
Envious Hand, Malvasia mentions two other current
explanations of Elisabetta's fate. Some said that it
was compassed " by a high and powerful hand " whose
proffered attentions the artist had rejected. This
supposition is consonant with the belief that the course
of justice was prevented in favour of the accused ;
and Gianandrea's above-quoted letter to the Cardinal
Leopoldo de' Medici would seem to indicate that he
forsook his original theory of professional jealousy in
favour of this more romantic explanation. Others,
again, spoke of a certain " cavalier grande " mortally
offended because the artist had drawn him in carica-
ture.

But Malvasia dismisses with scorn both these popular
suppositions ; those who hold them are " much de-
ceived." Certainly they presuppose that an honest if
silly girl could easily be induced to murder a beloved
mistress. Her affection for Elisabetta is mentioned, or
is taken for granted, by every witness in the trial ; none
of them ever suppose that the girl was actuated by
enmity or spite. Malvasia even makes the curious con-
jecture that she was induced to administer the poison
by the assurance that it was a love potion, something
"which had power to make the signora, whom she
loved only too well, love her in return." There is
nothing in the Processo which lends colour to this
fancy, nor does it diminish the difficulty which attends
any theory which makes Lucia the instrument of
another's malice, i.e. how and when she held com-

CARICATURE OF THE OLD MAN RIALI

FROM A TRACING OF THE COPY PRESERVED WITH THE MS. OF THE PROCESSO
IN THE ARCHIVIO DI STATO, BOLOGNA

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 275

munication with any one belonging to the outside
world. She was closely questioned as to the company
she kept ; and the single fact elicited was that she once
talked with a whitesmith called in to mend a kitchen
pot, a man who had made love to her when she lived
with her mother. But Margherita promptly sent her
son and one of her daughters to the cellar to act as
chaperons ; and for the rest the girl was kept in convent-
like seclusion.

In spite of its inherent improbability, and of Malvasia's
scorn, the story of the caricature was probably seriously
considered in court, and has been revived in modern
times. In the year 1844 Signor Michel Angelo Gua-
landi found a curious pen-and-ink drawing in the
possession of a certain Bolognese artist in Florence.
The drawing represented a hideous old man in flop-
ping hat and long cloak, and appended to it was
this description : " Portrait from life of one of the
family of Riali, original by the famous Elisabetta
Sirani, on account of which she was poisoned by the
same Riali, and a celebrated painter perished in her
prime."

Signore Gualandi had this drawing engraved, and the
copy now lying with the MS. of the Processo is doubt-
less, as Signore Manaresi conjectured, one of these im-
pressions, placed there by Gualandi when he made his
transcript of the MS. Unfortunately, Signore Manaresi
carried his conjecture a step further, and declared that
the engraving had no seventeenth -century original.
When the painter, Liverati, died the caricature was
not found among his effects — " suddenly as rare things
will it vanished." Signore Manaresi argued from this

276 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

disappearance that the too credulous Gualandi had been
the victim of a practical joke on the part of his artist
friend.

But the hoax theory had an obvious weakness : it
involved the further supposition that Liverati was an
accomplished paleographer ; for although the inscrip-
tion on the caricature does not correspond precisely
with any one handwriting in the records of the Processo,
it is thoroughly seventeenth century in character.
Happily before this paper was concluded, the existence
of the original caricature was no longer a question of
inference and hypothesis. Among the drawings kept,
and recently put in order by Signore Ferri, Ispettore
of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the writer discovered
Elisabetta's grotesque sketch of the hideous old man
Riali. It came to the gallery in 1866 as part of the
magnificent collection of Professor Emilio Santarelli, to
whom it had doubtless been sold or given by the
Bolognese painter.

There is a curious appendix to this seventeenth-
century poisoning case. Perhaps, after the first distress
and panic were outlived, the unhappy father began to
feel less certain of Lucia Tolomelli's guilt. Perhaps
Anna Maria confessed to exaggeration or misstatement.
Perhaps some positive indication of the little servant's
innocence came unexpectedly to light. At all events
on January 3rd, 1668, Giovanni Andrea Sirani sub-
scribed, for himself and his family, to a very singular
document. He declared that freely, and for the love of
God, he made peace with Madonna Lucia Tolomelli,
cancelling all suits against her, and consenting to the

A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY TRIAL 277

erasure of her name from the registers of the third
bench of the Torrone.

In the following February Lucia's sentence of banish-
ment was revoked, and two years later Gianandrea
passed to his long home.

CHAPTER IV
ELISABETTA'S PHYSICIANS

Thy pardon for this long and tedious case
Which now that I review it, needs must seem
Unduly dwelt on, prolixly set forth !

Browning, Epistle of Karshish.

THE trial of Lucia Tolomelli for the supposed
murder of her mistress throws a lurid light on
the medical knowledge and practice of the seventeenth
century — a century at the beginning of which Bacon,
in his marvellous review of human learning, had de-
clared that " Medicine is a science which hath been
more professed than laboured, and yet more laboured
than advanced ; the labour having been rather in a circle
than in progression." *

We note first the medieval mingling of astrology and
medicine in Dr. Gallerati's reply to Elisabetta's first
complaints of pain. He prohibited purgatives — not
because his diagnosis of "a slight catarrh" was con-
tradictory to their use, but because "the sun was in
Leo " and therefore " it was no time to take medicine."

The remedy he actually prescribed was "a little
simple acid syrup," to be taken in tablespoonful doses
the first thing in the morning. This Sciroppa Acetosa

' Advancement of Learning, book II, X. 3.
278

ELISABETTA'S PHYSICIANS 279

was made by Aunt Giacoma, doubtless according to
a recognized recipe similar to that given by Lemery in
his Farmacopea Universale, which is as follows ; —

"In a glazed earthenware pipkin put two parts
powdered sugar and one part white wine vinegar. Put
it over the fire till the sugar liquefies. Skim and
pour off.

"It is good as a cooling beverage in burning fevers,
alleviates thirst, arrests spitting of blood and other
haemorrhage, and resists poison."

About the middle of August Elisabetta was troubled
with an eruption with small pustules which appeared on
the neck under the chin and at the angle of the jaws.
She did not consult the family physician for this
annoying complaint, but successfully employed some
ointment which Aunt Giacoma " kept in the house." It
was one of those convent preparations which were the
medieval equivalents of the modern patent medicine.
Aunt Giacoma said she was wont to procure it from the
Sisters of S. Peter Martyr.

If Elisabetta Sirani were indeed the victim of foul
play, she was given from first to last every chance in
the way of antidotes. We have seen that the Simple
Acid Syrup was said to "resist poison" — an assertion
probably based on the observed efficacy of acids in
counteracting alkaline poisons ; and when her mortal
agony began, and the arrival of the physician was
delayed, Elisabetta's terrified relations gave her "a little
Triaca," an electuary which enjoyed for centuries a
great reputation as a "counter-poison," besides being
a specific for a vast number of infirmities not arising
from poison.

28o THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

This Triaca, Theriaque or Venice Treacle, was,
according to Bacon, one of the very few remedies
in respect of which physicians were content "to tie
themselves severely and religiously to receipts": and
for this licence he blames them, declaring that they
" frustrate the fruit of tradition and experience in add-
ing and taking out and changing quid pro quo in their
receipts, commanding so over the medicine as the
medicine cannot command over the disease."^ It is
singular that treacle should have been thus signally
exempted from medical caprice, seeing that the pre-
scription of Andromach, the physician of Nero, con-
tained over sixty ingredients, some of which were
compounds. Nevertheless, it was not till the middle
of the seventeenth century that any one of them was
" taken out or changed," and then a certain M. d'Aquin,
of Paris, first physician to the King, ventured to issue
a "reformed recipe," and to place the same in the
Royal Galilean Pharmacopea.

But if the physicians respected the venerable pre-
scription, the apothecaries were less scrupulous. There
was an immense quantity of cheap counterfeit treacle in
the market. Venice had at first a practical monopoly
of the manufacture of triaca ; later a good deal was
made at Montpellier. But as Sieur Pierre Pomet, the
Paris druggist, tells us, there were sold at fairs whole
barrelfuls of so-called Theriaque de Montpellier, which
was merely common honey mingled with mouldy
roots ; while more fastidious customers were tempted
by -^rGVcy faience pots, on which were painted two vipers
crowned with fleurs-de-lis, with the inscription Theria-
' Advancement of Learning, book il, x. 8.

ELISABETTA'S PHYSICIANS 281

que fine de Venise, " quoiqu'elle soit faite a Orleans ou a '
Paris."

In a lengthy treatise on the making of treacle published
in 1570 by a physician of repute in Naples, we find an
ingenious justification of the portentous number of in-
gredients used in Andromach's prescription. There are,
says the writer Bartolomeo Maranta, many different
kinds of poison and much diversity in the nature and
complexion of men. A simple remedy aids one person
and is useless to another ; it is an antidote against one
sort of poison and does not withstand a second ; it helps
a single infirmity, but cannot include virtue equal to a
great number of maladies. Therefore the first maker of
Triaca was moved to make a great collection of simples
to compose an electuary which should be a singular an-
tidote against all kinds of poison, " for all natures and
complexions," and should further be helpful to all other
kinds of infirmities.

Headache, dimness of sight, mental disturbances ;
female complaints ; diseases of the liver, stomach, and
spleen ; congestions, asthma, shortness of breath, blood-
spitting ; ague, gout, and rheumatic fluxions ; — these are
some of the complaints for which Triaca, taken in varying
doses, at various times, undiluted, or mixed with water,
wine, or acid syrup, is said to be a notable and sovereign
remedy. Children alone must abstain from this univer-
sal panacea ; for once, it is naively stated, Galen saw a
child die the night after he had taken treacle, which is too
powerful a compound for the infantile digestion. There
is one other limitation to its use : it is too heating to
be taken in the height of summer — an injunction disre-
garded by Elisabetta's relatives. For the rest, " if any

282 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

man is not helped by its means, the failure must be at-
tributed solely to its bad composition, resulting either
from ignorance or the negligence of physicians and
apothecaries."

When Dr. Matessilani from the Ospedale della Morte
reached the patient's bedside, he ordered an injection of
sweet oil, and friction about the heart with an unguent.
In the evening Dr. Gallerati, who probably at once sus-
pected poison, ordered an emetic. The nature of the
embrocation and emetic is not stated ; but Gianandrea
is careful to declare that all the medicaments ordered
by the doctors were procured at the pharmacy of San
Petronio or of San Paolo, and that the injection was
given by a nurse from the Ospedale della Morte. These
facts were important as legal evidence, tending to
eliminate the possibility that poison was administered
subsequent to the departure of Lucia Tolomelli. The
clyster, especially in France, was sometimes a vehicle
for the introduction of poison ; but to deal with well-
known druggists, who were employed by physicians of
repute, and whose shops were situated in the best and
most public quarters of the city, was something of a
guarantee that the medicaments used had not been
tampered with ; whereas many an obscure and starving
Italian apothecary was ready, like him whom Romeo
found in Mantua, to brave the penalties of the law and
sell his fatal knowledge and his drugs for bread.

When Dr. Gallerati arrived on Friday morning and
found his patient no better, he prescribed the prepar-
ation called Elescoff or Episcopi, a purgative electiiary
containing scammony and cream and salt of tartar. It
was duly given in a little broth.

ELISABETTA'S PHYSICIANS 283

But the patient's condition became hourly more alarm-
ing. The confessor was sent for ; and the doctor, as a
last resource, administered some Oil of the Grand Duke
and a little Bezoar. Beyond the fact that it was an
esteemed antidote the writer has discovered nothing
concerning the first-named remedy ; but Bezoar was a
medicine of great repute. It was a concretion found in
the stomach and intestines of ruminating animals, and
the supply being inadequate to the demand, a chemical
imitation was sometimes employed. It is told of
Charles IX of France that he resolved to test the
alleged virtues of Bezoar on the vile body of a cook
who was believed to have stolen two silver spoons. The
thief was given a dose of corrosive sublimate followed
by a dose of Bezoar. The antidote was ineffectual, and
the wretched man died in agony seven hours later.

Elisabetta likewise died in spite of Bezoar, plus
treacle, Elescoff, and Oil of the Grand Duke ;^ and the
unhappy father, counselled by Dr. Gallerati, demanded
a post-mortem examination.

The body was opened by Master Ludovico, Surgeon
of the Ospedale della Morte. Of the seven physicians
present, Dr. Fabri alone, and once only, touched the
corpse. Surgery and dispensing were alike beneath the
attention of these professors of medicine; nay, acquaint-
ance with such " manual arts " were sometimes held to
be disqualifications for a doctor's degree.^

' One is reminded of the conduct of Benvenuto Cellini's Roman
physician, who despaired of his life and left his bedside with the direction :
" Apply the five medicines one after another." (Memoirs, ch. x, vn.)

* Vide Niccolo Lemery's Preface: "As if," he says indignantly, "exer-
cises necessary to the perfection of medicine could be unworthy of a
physician."

284 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

In the present day in a case of suspected poison the
autopsy is followed by a chemical examination of the
various organs of the body. This analysis largely
determines the verdict. If traces of poison are dis-
covered, its quality and approximately its quantity are
indisputably established. But this seventeenth-century
post-mortem examination left the doctors divided — not
indeed as to the facts observed, but as to their interpre-
tation— and augmented public suspicion without furnish-
ing substantial evidence against the suspected person.
Five out of the seven bystanders who from a distance
noted the perforations of the stomach attributed it to
the action of corrosive poison. Dr. Gallerati, who had
previously administered antidotes at random, did not
venture further than this generic statement. The
" administered poison " was never named specifically.

Malvasia, however, who doubtless knew the private
opinion of the doctors, declares that it was clearly " foul
and plebeian, such as caustic, commonly called fuoco
niorto " ; which fact seems to him an argument against
the theory that the poisoner was a gentleman of im-
portance.

It would seem that arsenic was the poison most
affected by aristocratic Italian poisoners. It was almost
certainly the weapon of the Borgias, It was also the
deadly principle of the colourless, tasteless liquid cir-
culated in Italy, in the latter half of the seventeenth
century, in small glass phials, labelled " Aqua Toffana,
Acquetta di Napoli," or " Manna di San Niccolo di
Bari." For upwards of fifty years the maker of this
liquid. La Toffana, carried on a lucrative business of
indiscriminate niurder. At last, her secret becoming

ELISABETTA'S PHYSICIANS 285

widely known, she took refuge in a convent in Naples.
But public fear and indignation overcame the scruples
of superstitious piety ; the convent was broken into,
and the wretched beldame handed over to the civil
authorities, by whom, in 1709, she was executed. Her
preparation was reputed to cause the victim's death at
any determinate period of weeks, months, or even
years, and that in a peculiarly insidious way, causing
languor, weariness, loathing for food, and a general
gradual decay, without any marked symptoms of fever,
vomiting, or such violent pain as attacked the unfortu-
nate Elisabetta.

While fully admitting the terrible prevalence of secret
poisoning in the seventeenth century, it is certain that
many deaths described as murders were due to natural
causes and to diseases unrecognized or misunderstood
by the physicians of the day. Ptomaine poisoning, for
instance, was not known ; and many seemingly suspicious
deaths after the consumption of eel-pie, or similar
pasties, were doubtless due to these mysterious animal
poisons. Little, again, was known concerning septic
poisons ; while blood poisoning, as a result of impure
water or insanitary surroundings, was recognized dimly
if at all. Yet the majority of town-dwellers habitually
drew their water from wells polluted by the infiltration
from filthy streets, while advances in public decency were
converted into dangers to public health by a lack of
knowledge of the elements of sanitary engineering and
a blissful ignorance of the perils of ill-placed cess-
pools and leaking drain-pipes.

Again, when chemistry was still in swaddling clothes,
and suspicion could not be confirmed or dispelled by

286 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

the analyst, the suggestion of poison was an absolutely
secure refuge for the ignorant physician. And all
seventeenth-century physicians were ignorant, need-
lessly ignorant, of what Bacon calls " the footsteps of
diseases and their devastations of the inward parts."
The great lawyer justly arraigns the medical profession
for the lack of systematic and recorded observation,
for the "discontinuance of medicinal history." While
members of his own profession have for centuries been
careful to report new cases and decisions for the
direction of future judgment, physicians had made no
notes of things which " might have been observed by
the multitude of anatomies " (i.e. post-mortem examina-
tions), but which "now upon opening of bodies are
passed over slightly and in silence."

The opening of the body of Elisabetta Slrani illus-
trates and justifies this condemnation of the medical
profession. Only one of the seven doctors present — i.e.
Doctor Fabri, shown by his interrogatory to have been
a more careful observer than the rest — took the trouble
to introduce one of his fingers into the perforation,^ and
thereby discovered that the circumference was ringed
round by hardened tissue. But the doctor did not
perceive the significance of' his own observations. To-
day it is recognized as an indication oi prolonged inflam-
mation.

The professional evidence for and against the asserted
traces of poison, and the probable cause and nature of
the artist's sufferings and death, assuming both to have
been natural, can be discussed adequately only in the

' "lo intromessi il dito aaricolare della mano destra e toccai la circon-
ferenza di detto foro osservando come qualche poco incallita."

ELISABETTA'S PHYSICIANS 287

pages of a medical journal, and were actually discussed
in the Bulletino delle Scienze Mediche di Bologna, in
May, 1898. Suffice it to say here that competent
medical authorities have asserted that Elisabetta's
symptoms — the pain felt more or less for a long period,
its intensity after eating, the patient's changed appear-
ance, pallor, and emaciation, the acute symptoms of
27 August, the difficulty of lying down — and all the
post-mortem appearances, notably the position of the
perforation in the stomach and the ring of hardened
tissue surrounding it, are all consonant with the diag-
nosis of ulcer in the stomach, causing sudden perfora-
tion and consequent peritonitis. On the other hand,
experts have declared that a dose of corrosive poison
powerful enough to produce perforation could not have
taken twelve days (from 15 to 27 August) to accom-
plish its work ; while small doses repeated over a long
period would not have produced a lesion at a single
point.

It is noteworthy that Dr. Matessilani, one hundred
and seventy years before this disease was recognized,
expressed a belief that generated poison had caused
" an ulcerous inflammation.''

CHAPTER V
ELISABETTA'S WORK

Work of his hand
He nor commends nor grieves ;
Pleads for itself the fact ;
As unrepenting Natiire leaves
Her every act.

THE statement graven above the portal of the
house in the Via Urbana is repeated ad nauseam
in every guide-book to Bologna and every history of
Bolognese Art. Elisabetta Sirani is universally pro-
claimed the "Emulatrice del Sommo Guido Reni."^

In accepting this statement we need to remind our-
selves of three facts : —

(i) That in the opinion of her contemporaries and of
art critics and art lovers for two successive centuries it
was regarded as a very high praise.

' The English traveller, John Evelyn, echoed this judgment, but, it
would seem, in merely a parrot-like fashion. In the midst of his de-
scription of Bologna we find this phrase : "This Citie is full of rare pieces
especially of Guido, Domenichino, and a Virgin named Isabetta Sirani, now
living, who has painted many excellent pieces, and imitates Guido so well
that many skilful artists have been deceived." Now when Evelyn visited
Bologna in the year 1645, Elisabetta, or Isabetta as she is sometimes
called, was only seven years old. One cannot avoid the conclusion that
the worthy gentleman improved his diary with the accounts of later
travellers, without realizing the shortness of Elisabetta's life. He thought
she was painting in 1645, and imagined he remembered her work.
Probably he confused it with that of her father.

288

ELISABETTA'S WORK 289

(2) That it is true, but not the whole truth.

(3) That we of the twentieth century, in considering
the work of the seventeenth, are almost certain to err
on the side of condemnation.

The books which recorded the impressions or guided
the steps and opinions of early Victorian or eighteenth-
century travellers give us the measure of the change
which has taken place in the attitude of the cultured
public towards the Eclectic school. What is now
reprobated as a baneful form of decadence was once
hailed as a second and glorious renaissance. We wor-
ship what our grandfathers and great-grandfathers
burned ; we burn what they adored. We go to Bo-
logna to see Francia. Mrs. Stark's celebrated guide-
book did not even mention him. We delight in the
lovely colouring of Lippo di Dalmasio. Mr. Eustace
and his contemporaries waxed eloquent and senti-
mental over the great canvases of the Carracci and
their followers.

Of all those followers Guido Reni was the most
fervidly, fulsomely, and deservedly belauded. No
master has ever been overrated to a greater degree or
for a longer period than the painter of the Ecce Homo.
He alone among the Eclectics retains a portion of his
sometime popularity. Among painters who, in the
felicitous phrase of a French critic, were "peintres beaux-
esprits au lieu de peintres inspires," he was undoubtedly
relatively great ; but his very superiority was injurious
to the welfare of Art, in that it gave rise, to quote again
from M. Henri Delaborde, to " the regrettable successes
of mediocrity." It is comparatively easy to imitate a

ago THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

painter whose virtues are chiefly technical, and whose
sentiment is superficial. And whereas in the Golden
Age of painting discipleship meant the assimilation of
what was best in the master for the nourishment of
original gifts, in the Bronze Age it meant merely the
perpetuation of a manner. Guido's manner was copied
with extraordinary success by artists of inferior ability;
and among these imitators none was more successful,
or less inferior, than the young daughter of Giovanni
Andrea Sirani.

She was, we have already seen, his pupil only in-
directly. But just as in natural relationship, charac-
teristics of mind and body are often seen to skip a
generation, so in this artistic kinship Elisabetta re-
sembled the master whom she never knew more nearly
than did her father who had been Guido's favourite
pupil. She caught with singular exactness the charac-
teristics of his " second manner," his mild dignity, his
inept serenity, his plaster-like flesh-tints, his gentle
diffused light. But for good and evil, in expression as
in range of subjects, she is far more limited. She never
rises to Guido's heights nor sinks to his depths. Her
sweetness is less cloying, her artificiality less obvious.
She has no conception of deep grief or stormy passion,
but she indulges in no theatrical horrors. She has no
keen sense of beauty ; her men and women are pleas-
ing, comely, graceful, not supremely lovely ; they are
commonplace and plain, not ugly and repulsive. She
never could have painted the radiant Aurora of the
Rospigliosi Palace in Rome, nor the thorn-crowned Man
of Sorrows of the Bolognese Gallery. She never would
have painted the vulgar Samson drinking from the jaw-

ELISABETTA'S WORK 291

bone, nor the Slaughter of the Innocents, with its stage
terror and its absence of natural grief. Her work is far
from being weak, but there is a constant negative
quality about it which makes it somewhat unsatisfying.
To describe it justly one must employ comparatives
rather than superlatives. Before beginning to examine
it in detail let us again remind ourselves that we shall
be disposed to underrate it. Owing to many different
causes, which cannot be discussed here — which in part
defy analysis and elude classification, — we are nowadays
far more in sympathy with the spirit of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries than with that of the seven-
teenth and the eighteenth.

Not the art alone, but the music, literature, archi-
tecture, oratory, religion, and social life of the Seicento
are distasteful and incomprehensible to the men and
women, more especially the English men and women,
of the twentieth century. The theatrical scenes of the
Bolognese masters are antipathetic to a generation to
whom the work of the early Florentine and Sienese
schools makes peculiar and intimate appeal. We
cannot feel the precise thrill, the particular quality of
emotion which the tearful Madonnas of Guercino and the
suffering Christs of Guido Reni awakened in contem-
poraries. We are at home in the severe and spacious
churches of the friars, and strangers in the decorated
barocco temples of the Society of Jesus. We are
interested in the early history of Minorites and Domini-
cans, and comparatively indifferent to the schemes and
struggles of Ignatius Loyala. We can understand the
fervour of the Crusades, not that of the Catholic re-
action. S. Francesco and S. Chiara are our friends,

292 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

S. Filippo Neri and S. Teresa are hardly acquaintances.
We read the Little Flowers, but not the once popular
Flaming Heart or Life of St. Theresa. For one modern
Englishman who knows the sometime belauded poets,
Achillini and Marini, for five who have glanced
through Metastasio, there are fifty who study Dante
with pious regularity.

In justice to the Eclectics we must admit : —

First, that they were more truly artistic than their
creed. The very reason of our distaste for their work is
that it embodies and expresses the Zeitgeist of an age
with which we are out of sympathy. Borrowers and im-
itators by profession, they thoroughly fused and welded
their material in the fire of barocco sentiment. Secondly,
that in giving us the quintessence of the time they
give it rectified and refined. The art of the Seicento was
less degraded than its society or its religion, less bom-
bastic than its rhetoric, less monstrously artificial than
its poetry. Guido Reni and Guercino, Domenichino and
Tiarini, Giovanni Andrea Sirani and his gifted daughter
were influences for good and not for evil. They show
us the best and noblest aspect of an age of decadence,
an age devoid of true dignity and destitute of great
ideals.

The natural starting-point for any study of Elisabetta
Sirani's work is the " Baptism of Christ" on the left wall
of the first chapel to the left from the entrance door of
the church of the Campo Santo in Bologna. It is, as
she records with naive satisfaction in her catalogue, " un
quadro grandissimo"; and it was her first important
order.

Malvasia gives us a pretty little account of the arrival

ELISABETTA'S WORK 293

of this commission and of the young artist's joy at re-
ceiving it. The good Canon, according to his frequent
custom, was paying an evening visit to the invalid
Giovanni Andrea. There was a knock at the door, a
man's step upon the stairs, and one Gozzini was ushered
into the upstairs-room where the sick painter lived and
taught. He came from the Fathers of the Certosa, for
whom some four or five years earlier Giovanni Andrea
Sirani had painted a large picture representing the
Supper in the house of the Pharisee. They now desired
a companion picture for the opposite wall of the chapel ;
and this time the commission was given not to the father
but to the daughter. Elisabetta was still in her teens,
and on learning Gozzini's errand she jumped for joy.
Withdrawing to a corner of the room with a sheet of
white paper, some water-colour, and a camel-hair pencil,
she then and there sketched in the whole composition.
It was finished before her elders had concluded their
evehing chat, and was her only study for a large and
important work.

Malvasia further tells us that she subsequently pre-^
sented him with the sketch, and that it was thoroughly
typical of her mode of composition. Her invention and
execution were extraordinarily quick. She conceived her
subject at once and conceived it whole ; and, as a rule, /
after a few rough pencil lines she drew it with water-
colour and brush on white paper, putting in light and
shade at the same time — " the method," says the admir-
ing Canon, " of the greatest masters," and one to which
her father never aspired. Several examples of this
method of sketching may be seen in the collection of
Elisabetta's drawings in the Galleria degli Uffizi in

294 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Florence, where they are shown on application to the
Signore Ispettore. For the sake of Elisabetta's repu-
tation it is unfortunate that this collection is almost un-
known to the public. For a painter's finished work
never seems to proclaim his true rank, or to bring us
quite so close to him as do his first studies and rough
sketches. In them his capacity lies, so to speak, un-
covered before us ; undistracted by colour and ornament
we measure his naked strength and weakness. Now
Elisabetta's studies are certainly in " the fnanner of the
greatest masters." They possess precisely the qualities
in which women's work is most frequently deficient —
qualities notably lacking in the drawings of her Bolog-
nese predecessor, Lavinia Fontana. They are easy,
dexterous, spirited, unhesitating, self-confident — the
work of one thoroughly mistress of herself and of the
technical side of her art.

But to return to the young artist's first important
picture, the Baptism in the church of the Certosa. It
hangs in a bad light and is not easy to see in detail,
still less easy to photograph. It is not a beautiful or a
pleasing picture; but it is astonishingly powerful and
bold — one might almost say audacious, when one
remembers that it is the work of a girl under twenty.
From clouds of glory in the centre of the sky, emerges
the figure of God the Father with right hand uplifted
in blessing. On either side are angels, — rather solid
feminine shapes with floating draperies. From below
the clouds the Dove descends upon the Son of God, who
kneels on a rock in the shallow river. The Precursor
in red drapery stands with hand uplifted above the
Saviour's head — the pose of hand and arm are un-

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ELISABETTA'S WORK 295

fortunate.^ The stream in which the feet of the Christ
and the Baptist are half inbimersed is flat, unwatery,
untransparent.

To right and left of the two central figures are groups
of spectators, presumably the Baptist's audience. They
appear to be much interested in one another, unob-
servant of the baptism, and ignorant of any celestial
manifestations. In the middle distance some one is hang-
ing towels to dry on the branches of a tree, while notice-
able in the foreground is the vigorous lifelike figure of
a woman in a yellow turban suckling a child. In the
opposite corner of the picture, a seated youth, with
devout and joyful countenance, looks up into the face
of a brawny half-naked old man who stands beside him.
The painter seems to indicate that these are newly-
baptized persons, who have just come up out of the
stream. The youth is putting on his hose — an action
exceedingly interesting to the student of costume. One
stocking lies on the ground beside him — he is drawing
on the other ; they are of coarse grey material, are
attached by red ties, and are toeless.

There is a figure yet more interesting than this
handsome youth performing his toilet. Behind him, on
the same side of the picture, in close attendance on Our
Lord, are two " Santine," — young girls, chattering to-
gether in girlish fashion. One in blue has towels or
garments folded over her arm ; one in pink, looking
upwards, raises a hand emphatically to enforce the
words pouring from her lips. Now in this pretty, curly-
headed, animated, and very human " little saint," Elisa-

' Slightly suggesting the offer of a perch for the Dove who hovers
above.

296 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

betta, as she herself tells us, gave her own portrait to
the Fathers of the Certosa.

It is difficult to perceive much resemblance between
this slim fair-haired child and the buxom comely young
woman who looks out at us from the little picture in the
smallest room of the Bolognese Gallery (9503). This
little picture has always been described as an "auto-
ritratto," and expert opinion agrees with the tradition.
Elisabetta's latest biographer, Signor Manaresi, is, how-
ever, inclined to ascribe it to Barbara Sirani, since
Barbara is known to have painted her sister's portrait
not long before the latter's tragic death ; and he argues,
with much plausibility, that the younger sister's tech-
nique might well be undistinguishable from that of the
elder, under whom, and with whom, she worked.

Whoever was the artist, one feels instinctively that
the likeness is a good one. Elisabetta stands, a palette
in her left hand, a brush in her right, in the act of
painting. She wears a tight-fitting blue velvet bodice,
with fine, lace-trimmed, white fawn chemisette. Gems
fasten the bodice, and loop a drapery round the arm-
holes. There is a string of pearls at her throat. Her
hair is drawn back tightly save for a few flat curls upon
the forehead and falls in ringlets on each side of her
face, after the fashion of seventeenth-century coiffures
alike in England and on the Continent.

At Castelguelfo there is yet a third portrait of Elisa-
betta occupying a middle position in time between the
" Santina " of the Certosa and the little picture of the
Pinacoteca. Again we see the artist in the act of
painting. This picture has long been in the Hercolani

THE CHRIST-CHILD ON THE GLOBE

PINACOTECA, BOLOGNA

ELISABETTA'S WORK 297

collection. Oretti, however, mentions it as being in
" Casa Oretti," and says that it is not by her own hand.
There is a tradition, recorded even by the official
catalogue, that the head of a nun — a small canvas in
the second corridor of the Bologna Pinacoteca — is an
" auto-ritratto." If this be the case, it must have been
taken during the last months of the painter's life, and
would corroborate the testimony of Aunt Giacoma as
to her niece's altered looks. It is difficult to trace any
resemblance between the mournful nun and the fair,
plump, cheerful young woman of the little portrait in
Camera G.

This little room in the Pinacoteca contains seven
small pictures by Elisabetta Sirani. Most noticeable
among them are the Virgine Addolorata and the Bam-
bino Gesii sul Hondo, which have a certain poetic beauty
and suggestiveness possessed by none of her large
paintings.

In one of his wonderful Dreams Jean Paul Richter
describes the vast ocean of life through which suns and
planets float as motes in light. Brain and senses are
reeling before the contemplation of the universe when
he sees sailing towards him through galaxies of stars a
dark globe. And on the globe stands a child. And
the child turns on him a look so bright and loving that
he wakes for very joy.

EHsabetta's Bambino Gesii sul Hondo might serve as
an illustration for the Dream of the German tran-
scendentalist. The perfectly infantile features of her
Christ-Child are touched with subtle majesty. His little
hand is uplifted with authority to bless. "The olive-

298 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

branch in his left hand is the sceptre of the Prince of
Peace. He stands on the globe of the world, its pilot
through vast misty space, and the clouds behind the
infant head are touched with brightness and glow into
an aureole. The scheme of colour is delicate and
characteristic. A floating scarf of dull pinkish mauve
connects the flesh tints with the blue streaks in the sky.
This little picture (it is 38 by 27 centimetres) was
painted, like her earlier " quadro grandissimo," for the
Fathers of the Certosa.

Beside it, even smaller in size, and on copper instead
of canvas, hangs the Virgine Addolorata. The sorrowing
Mother, in under-dress of dull carnation and deep blue
draperies, sits holding on her knees the crown of thorns.
Her attitude expresses sorrowful contemplation and
restrained grief In the background, to the left of the
Virgin Mother, rises the cross. Two angels embrace its
arms ; a third with clasped hands stands at its foot
gazing upwards, as though he mystically beheld its divine
burden ; a fourth kneels weeping in the foreground
beside the instruments of the passion.

Elisabetta was only nineteen when she painted this
really beautiful and poetic little picture. To its entry
in her catalogue is added the note : " E 1' intagliai anco
in rame"; and this engraving is mentioned by Adam
Bartsch with unstinted admiration. The order for the
picture came from a certain Padre Ettore Ghisilieri, of
the church of the Madonna di Galliera ; and the oratory
of the church was its first home. Four of Elisabetta's
pictures still hang there ; all were ordered by the same
priest. One of them, a "Conception," painted in the
last year of her life, is a very graceful little picture on

ELISABETTA'S WORK 299

copper. Its composition reminds one of her father's
treatment of the same subject in the canvas numbered
176, Corridor 2, of the Pinacoteca. The Virgin stands
on a white crescent moon which rests upon the head of
a greenish serpent with curled tongue and feline ex-
pression, who lies coiled on the terrestrial globe. Angels,
holding white lilies, hover in the clouds. The stars of
heaven have come together to form a faint, crown-like
nimbus round the Virgin's head. Her brown hair falls
smoothly parted round her sweet oval face : her beauti-
ful hands are crossed submissively upon her breast : she
is the willing handmaid of the Lord.

A larger picture, removed like the Virgine Addolo-
rata from the Madonna di Galliera to the walls of the
Pinacoteca, represents the vision of S. Filippo Neri.
The Saint, vested for Mass, kneels near an altar ; in
front of him stands the Virgin, tendering her child for
his adorg4:ion. Elisabetta's catalogue describes the pic-
ture as an altar-piece, and states that the order came
from the Signore Fabri Dottore. This was probably the
physician who maintained the theory of " administered
poison " in the trial of Lucia Tolomelli, and whose
evidence was remarkable for its superior accuracy and
observation.

Two other pictures by Elisabetta hang in Corridor 2
close to the S. Filippo Neri.

Number 176 is the Madonna of the Rosary. The
Virgin's face — very sweet and framed in light brown hair
— ^her attitude, the background of spacious sky, the
starry nimbus, recall the little Concezione in the church
of the Galliera, — with the difference of a total change
of expression. The Virgin of the Rosary is the Queen

300 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

of Heaven, standing, a sceptre in her right hand and the
Divine Child on her left arm, to receive the homage of
the World.

In his right hand, which rests against his mother's
heart, the Infant Christ is holding a crimson rose; in his
left he extends a rosary of pearls. There is no aureole
round his head, no dignity in the sweet but inexpressive
little face. He is a pretty earthly child playing a quiet
game with a string of beads. His feet are ugly and
coarse. His robe is of the peculiar pinkish purple of
pastel consistency which Elisabetta much affected,
especially in her later work. The Virgin's draperies are
hard and smooth. The picture is low in tone, and would
gain in effect were it in a less obtrusive frame.

A little further off is a Holy Family (No. 6i6), which
in colouring and conception differs somewhat from
Elisabetta's usual and most characteristic work. The
Virgin is a handsome contadina ; her shapely head is
turbaned by a gay striped scarf: her robe is a deep
pure red : the sky is a deep blue. Her Child sits in
front of her on a cushion placed on a wall : he bends
forward to see the Dove held up to him by a curly-
headed St. John.

No entry corresponding to this canvas appears in
Elisabetta's catalogue ; but it is probably indirectly
referred to in her mention of " a Blessed Virgin on
copper, with the Infant Christ and St. John, who
holds a bird in his hands which the former desires and
asks for " ; for she adds : " This was copied from a
larger pictured

Another Holy Family (No. 178, Room G) likewise
displays a richness, warmth, and purity of colour un-

ELISABETTA'S WORK 301

usual in her work. It is a pleasing composition. A
looped-back curtain, disclosing a loggia, through the
arches of which we get a distant glimpse of sky, gives a
sense of restfulness and space. S. Joseph reads peace-
fully in the background. The Bambino sleeps in the
Virgin's lap. Her red bodice and deep blue cloak, the
white and gold scarf covering her head, a copper pot
with red flowers in the loggia behind her, are bright
warm bits of colour.

The most important picture by Elisabetta in the
Bolognese Gallery is fitly hung in the Sala di Guido, in
juxtaposition to the works of the master whose style it
so closely approaches. But in none of Guido's pictures
in Bologna or elsewhere do we find the pretty, fresh,
Greuze-like children in whom Elisabetta delighted.
Here the cell of the monk, Anthony of Padua, is filled
with lovely human children who have entered in the thin
disguise of heavenly visitants. Chubby cherubs, with
wings about their little ears, are playing peep-bo over
substantial clouds ; a little angel, with more developed
wings, is saying its prayers with sweet, childish solemnity;
and a pretty ragazza, with untidy hair, appears on the
right of the picture. The Bambino himself, in spite of
the little floating cloud on which he sits, is simply an
English baby, fair, rosy, dimpled, smiling, almost mis-
chievous. The Saint, young, gentle, and effeminate, is
no ascetic dreamer, bowing in rapt devotion before
a celestial apparition, but a lover of children, bending
tenderly forward to fondle the beautiful little foot of an
engaging infant.

The picture, in spite of its graceful composition,

302 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

pleasing colour, and technical virtues — note, for example,
the finely-painted hands of the Saint — is curiously
commonplace and unsatisfactory. In a room we should
quickly weary of it. On the walls of a church it would
not inspire devotion. For a church it was painted, i.e.
for S. Leonardo in the Via S. Vitale, a new building in
Elisabetta's day. It would be interesting to know when
the cult of S. Anthony of Padua reacquired popularity
in Bologna ; for Fra Salimbene writing at the end of
the thirteenth century tells us that their defeat by the
people of Faenza, on the feast of S. Anthony, in the
year 1275, rankled so terribly in the memory of the
Bolognese, that they would not even have him named
within their city — "nolunt ipsum audire in Bononia
nominari."^

Two other pictures by Elisabetta hang in the Sala di
Guido, — a Magdalene and a S. Jerome, both painted in
1660 for one "Signore Giovanni Battista Cremonese,
a jeweller." They are both " skied," and in a bad light.
S. Jerome is very busy with literary work ; he is mend-
ing a pen, and using the head of his mild lion as a
book-rest. The Magdalene lies on a rough mat, con-

' Elisabetta's Vision of S. Anthmiy was probably painted in 1662.
In that year she painted, according to her catalogue, an almost incredible
number of pictures, while none are assigned to the year 1663. Signer
Manaresi conjectured that the artist had forgotten to enter the date of the
new year, and had run the work of 1662 without a division into that of
1663. He subsequently discovered in the archives of the Leopardi family
a confirmation of this supposition ; a letter from Giovanni Andrea Sirani,
dated March p, 1663, alludes to two pictures — lolus and Hercules spin-
ning— as just finished and sent off. These two pictures are entered under
the heading 1662.

ELISABETTA'S WORK 303

templating a crucifix ; one hand rests on a skull, and is
very finely drawn.

Works from Elisabetta's facile and industrious brush,
purchased by the distinguished strangers who went to
see her paint, are scattered throughout Europe ; but,
seeing that in Italy alone her fame is yet green, that the
Bolognese Gallery contains thoroughly typical, specimens
of her work, and that pictures in private collections are
often difficult to trace and sometimes difficult to see, it
seems Sufficient to indicate here those which are publicly
exhibited in her native city.

Furthermore, there are three pictures placed in promi-
nent positions in Roman galleries which are easily seen,
and are worth seeing. One, numbered 90, in Room 6
of the Borghese Gallery, is invariably called Lucretia.
No picture is thus named in Elisabetta's own catalogue ;
and though, as we have already seen, that catalogue is not
exhaustive, it is noteworthy that it does describe a com-
position which appears to correspond with the so-called
Borghese Lucretia, to wit : " Una Porzia in atta di
ferirsi una coscia quando desiderava saper la congiura
che tramava I'll marito." (A Portia in the act of wound-
ing herself in the thigh when she desired to know of the
plot her husband was hatching.) The expression of
the nude figure gazing upwards with sentimental tran-
quillity is certainly more appropriate to a happy
woman about to do herself a trifling injury for her
own fanciful satisfaction, than to an outraged wife
preparing to commit suicide to save her honour and
her husband's life.

304 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

In the first room in the Pinacoteca of the Capitol,
facing the statue of Benedict XIV, is a bold picture,
representing a soldier, wearing a helmet with nodding
scarlet and white plumes, and a crimson mantle, taking
leave of a golden-haired lady in purple and gold, reclin-
ing on a throne-like crimson dais, shadowed by purple
curtains. Elisabetta has placed a delicate, stemmed
glass in the lady's left hand, and called the picture Circe
and Ulysses. By any other name it would please us
better ; for the anachronisms of the pseudo-classical
painters of the seventeenth century are irritating,
though those of earlier and more child-like workers are
touching and endearing. This richly coloured Circe
and Ulysses is in Guide's first, rather than his second,
manner.

More pleasing and characteristic is the Amorino, in
the room which contains Guercino's enormous and re-
pulsive S. Petronilla. The winged boy sits on a car-
mine cushion, placed on the stone steps of an Italian
garden. Above him is a bush of pink roses in full
bloom. He holds a spray of roses in his dimpled left
hand, and stretches out the right to gather more. A
dull purple curtain falls behind him, looped back in
Elisabetta's favourite manner to show a glimpse of
distant landscape.

Though singularly successful as an etcher, Elisabetta
seems to have cared little for this delightful form of art,
and to have abandoned it entirely for painting after
her first youth. She was only nineteen when she en-
graved on copper the Virgine Addolorata, of which the
painted replica is in the Bolognese Gallery; and only

THE CONVERSION OF ST. EUSTACE

ELISABETTA'S WORK 305

seventeen when she executed the S. Eustachio, pro-
nounced by Adam Bartsch to be one of the finest known
specimens of this kind of work.

The attitude of the suddenly converted hunter, who
kneels in amazement and devotion before the miraculous
stag, is exceedingly fine and expressive, and conveys no
hint of immaturity of conception, or of the indecision of
a prentice hand. The sylvan surroundings — thicket,
rocks, and streams — are suggested with spirit and reality,
and without excessive detail, while the background of
breeze and space are admirable. There is little in
Elisabetta's etching to distinguish S. Eustace from
S. Hubert, about whom a similar legend is related.
The short tunic and cloak belong as much to medieval
times as to the days of Trajan.

The blot on this otherwise super-excellent composi-
tion is the horse, whose body is happily concealed by
a bush, but whose face peeps over it with a comic
expression of pained astonishment. We might almost
fancy that the strange animal was merely emblematical,
and that the head emerging from the brushwood was
that of the brazen bull in which S. Eustace is said to
have been enclosed and roasted.

The skill in line-drawing shown in this admirable
etching is visible even in the slightest of the studies
which are preserved in the Ufifizi Gallery. Nothing
perhaps so really reveals the capacity of an artist as his
sketch-book, and this collection, which may be seen on
application to Ispettore Ferri, deserves to be visited by
all who are interested in the work of the unfortunate,
highly gifted Bolognese artist. We give a list of these

3o6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

monochrome studies, with their numbers in the official
catalogue.

1. 1664. The Angel of the Annunciation, holding a lily in

the right hand. Swift motion cleverly indicated.
Pen and ink ; coarse lines.

2. 1665. The Virgin sitting on the ground (described in

catalogue simply as "figura muliebre") with the
Holy Child leaning against her, his arms upraised
so as to shape a cross. An interesting sketch.
Pen and ink, on white paper.

3. 1666. Virgin and Child with youthful Baptist. The

figures commonplace and rather ugly. Pen and
ink, on white paper.

4. 1667. Sylvan scene. Before a rough tent supported by

a tree trunk are two women ; one holds a ram ; a
child is on the ground at her feet. Large drawing
in pen and ink. On the left margin a fly is care-
fully drawn.

5. 4192. Kneeling figure with pretty child. Pencil, on

greenish paper ; high lights in body colour.

6. 4193. Child holding up a curtain. A very slight sketch.

Black pencil.

7. 4194. Figure of Comedy. Brush, on white paper, in

bistre.

8. 4195. The famous caricature of the old man in the long

cloak, supposed to be Elisabetta's poisoner. Pen
and ink, on white paper.

9. 4196. Virgin kneeling with Infant Christ. Signed.

Brush, on white paper, in bistre.
10. 4197. A cupid sitting by a table, on which are a dish
and flagon. Brush, in bistre; a few rough lines
in red chalk.

ELISABETTA'S WORK 307

11. 4198. Holy Family. A large and very slight sketch.

Pen and bistre, on brownish paper.

12. 4199. Holy Family. A very small sketch in black

pencil, with slight water-colour wash.

13. 4200. Magdalen with skull in her right hand, standing

with left hand raised. Outlined with a pen; shading
with brush and bistre wash.

14. 4201. Virgin and Child. Pretty and graceful. In red

pencil.

15. 4202. Holy Family. The Infant Christ plays with the

Baptist : the Virgin kneels, holding her hands
over them. Very rough sketch in red pencil.

16. 4203. Magdalen divesting herself of her worldly adorn-

ments. A large half-figure. Three cherubs appear
in the clouds to the right. To the left a little
angel holds a basket of flowers and fruit, and
points to the skies. A very characteristic sketch.
Pen and black mk, with indigo wash, on white
paper.

1 7. 4204. Half-length figure of an old man wearing spectacles,

with a strong, humorous, kindly countenance. Full
of vigour and spirit. Probably a portrait. Red
pencil.

18. 4205. A caricature : two friars. Red pencil.

19. 4206. A graceful female figure standing. Red pencil.

20. 6299. Youthful head, three-quarter face, turned right.

Signed. Coloured pencils, on white paper.

21. 6300. Shown under glass in the corridor with work of

Bolognese school. Beheading of S. John the
Baptist. The executioner is in the act of placing
the head in a basin held by a child. A few black
pencil lines and water-colour wash, on white paper.

3o8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

22. 6301. The Scourging of Christ. A very rough and very

vigorous sketch of doubtful authenticity. On it
is written : " Lascia stare questo disegno per che e
buono." Pencil, pen, and brown ink and brown
wash, on white paper.

23. 6302. A man lying on a bed near which stand two

women. Black pencil and bistre wash, on white
paper.

24. 6303. The rape of Deianira. A beautiful spirited drawing

in red chalk, oii yellowish paper.

25. 6304. Catalogued as " Three studies for half-length figure

of a Christ." The first holds a cross, the second
a globe, the third a book. Possibly symbolical of
the Three Persons of the Trinity. Black pencil
and bistre wash, on white paper.

AUTHORITIES

Malvasia. Felsina Pittrice.

MiNGHETTi. Le Donne Italians nelle Belle Arti. Firenze,
1877.

PiciNARDi. II Pennello Lacrimato. Bologna, 1665.

PiciNARDi. la Poesia Muta. Bologna, 1666.

Processo per il creduto venefido di Elisabetta Sirani. 1665-6.
MS. Archivio di Stato, Bologna.

Oretti. Pittori. MS. Gozzadini, 122. Archigninasio,
Bologna.

Vaccolini. Biografia di Elisabetta Sirani. Roma, 1844.

BiANCHiNi. Prove Legali dell' Avvelenamento delta Celebre
Pittrice Bobgnese Elisabetta Sirani. Bologna, 1666.

Carolina Bonafede. Cenni Biografici e Ritratti di Insigne
Donne Bolognese. Bologna, 1845.

GuALANDi. Memoria su Elisabetta Sirani. Indicatore
Modenese, anno II, num. 50.

Mazzoni Toselli. Di Elisabetta Sirani, e del Supposto
Venefido. Bologna, 1833.

Antonio Manaresi. Elisabetta Sirani. Bologna, 1898.

Antonio Manaresi. Processo di Avvelenamento. Bologna,
1904.

CoRRADO Ricci. Vita Barocca. Bologna.
LoDOVico Frati. Vita Privata di Bologna, dal secolo xiii.
al xvii. Bologna, 1900.

309

3IO THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Rivesta di Firenzo. 1858. Article by Jacopo Cavallucci.

SiEUR Pierre Pomet. Histoire Ginirale des Drogues.
Paris, 1699.

Farmacopea Universale. Venice, 1720.

Bartolomea Maranta. Treatise on Triaca. Naples, 1570

APPENDIX I

LETTER FROM DR. GALLERATI TO CONTE ANNIBALE
RANUZZI, 4 SEPTEMBER, 1665.

(Archiv. della R. Galleria di Firenze. Cod. ix, Inserto 15.)

" Per servire alia richiesta che mi fa la S. V. lUustrissima con
la sua lettera gli participio quelle che s'e osservato nell' apertura
del cadavero della signora Elisabetta Sirana, che sabbato
mattina, 29 del caduto, fu considerate; il quale, prima
d'aprirlo, si vide tutto gonfio, con la faccia tanto deformata che
piti non si conosceva, ed il ventre intumidito come un otre
pieno di vento, che al primo taglio sbocc6 un flato cosi fetente,
che necessitb gli circostanti a ritirarsi per qualche tempo.
Dipoi, col taglio in croce fatto luogo per osservar gli visceri, si
vide la rete lacerata in pezzi, parte sparsa sopra gli intestini,
parte mescolata con un seriosita gialla e torbida, nella quale
s' immergevano le budelle, le quali, nella tunica estema, come
anco il peritoneo, erano abrasi et iniiammati ; e perche la ditta
seriosita scaturiva con abondanza, fatto diligenza di dove
venisse, si ritrov6 da un foro fatto da un lato della bocca
inleriore dello stomacho, che nella parte di dentro d' intorno
aveva 1' escara, come se fosse stato fatto da un grano di fuoco
morto, ed era di grandezza quanto una piccola palla di
schizzettb, senza che d' altra parte la tunica interna del ventri-
colo fosse offesa in alcuna parti, fuorche un poco distante dal
detto forame, dove si vedevano ave macchiette rosse e minute
come punti o morsi di pulci. Nella parte di dentro alle budelle
non sfe osservata veruna alterazione, ma solo nella parte esterna
la ridetta abrasione cagionata da quella seriosita che similmente
aveva roso le tuniche di tutti gli altri visceri di questo ventro
inferiore.

APPENDIX II

PICTURES BY ELISABETTA SIRANI IN THE

PINACOTECA, BOLOGNA

Number in

Catalogue. Room

178. Holy Family, from Certosa G

179. The Infant Christ on the Globe . . . . G

180. Our Lady of Sorrows, from S. Maria de Galliera . G

280. Mary Magdalene ....... G

503. Portrait of herself G

554. Virgin in Prayer, from Zambeccari Gallery . . G

561. The Saviour in the act of blessing, from Zambeccari

Gallery G

Corridor

379. Portrait of a nun, a fragment : said to be herself . 2

177. Appearance of the Blessed Virgin and Child to

S. Filippo Neri, from S. Maria di Galliera . . 2

176. Madonna of the Rosary, from S. Maria Nuovo . 2

616. Madonna and Child with the Dove, from Zambeccari

Gallery 2

Room

565. S. Jerome in the Desert, from Zambeccari Gallery . A

750. The Magdalene in the Desert, from Zambeccari

Gallery A

175. The Vision of S. Anthony of Padua, from the

Monastery of S. Leonardo A

312

INDEX

Accursius, i

Achillini, 169, 232, 292

Acquin, d', French physician, 280

Ailisia, Sister, 47, 65

Alfonso Arnoaldo, Canon, witness
in Processo forCaterina deiVigri's
canonization, 145

Alidosi, Bolognese historian, 168

Andromach, Nero's physician, 280

Angelico, Fra, 151, 154

Angelo, S., Bridge of, Rome, 212

Angelo, Michael, 173, 245

Anna Morandi, Abbess, 124

Anthony, S., of Padua, 94, 301,
302

Anthony, S., of Padua, Hostel of,
in Bologna, 114

Antonia, Sister, the half-sister of
Caterina dei Vigri, 73

Archiginnasio, Bologna, 183, 197

Archivio of the convent of Corpus
Domini, Bologna, 124

Arsenius, S. , difference in tempera-
ment between him and S. An-
thony, 55 n.

Ascoli, Cardinal, 206

Aspertini Amico, painter, 179, 181,
182

Assumption, Vigil of Feast of, 264

Atonement, Feudal idea of, 80

Augustinian rule, 46

Augustinian habit, 156

Austen, Jane, 241

Bacon, Francis, 278, 280, 286

Bandinelli, Baccio, 202

Eartsch, Adam, 305

Bellini, Gentile, 151

Bembo family, 156. Sei Illuminata

Bentivoglio, Annibale, 79

Bentivoglio, Ginevra, 139

Bentivoglio, Sante, 109

Bernardina Sedazzi, 46, 48

Bernardino, S., 36; his humour,
36, 55 > attempts to lead a her-
mit's life, 53, 54 ; his canoniz-
ation, 74

Bero, Count, his sonnet, 247

Bessarion, Cardinal Legate, 103,
no

Bezoar, 283

Bianchini, Bolognese lawyer, 271

Bianconi and Canuti, description
of carving by Properzia de' Rossi,
171

Bologna, birthplace of Caterina dei
Vigri, 13

Bologna : —
Churches :
Certosa (Campo Santo), 292, 294,

296, 298
S. Cristoforo delle Muratelle,

104, 114
S. Domenico, 229 sgg.
S. Giacomo Maggiore, 209, 242
S. Leonardo, 302
8. Marici di Galliera, 298, 299

313

314 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Bologna (continued) : —

Churches (continued) :
S. Maria del Baraccano, 172, 174,

223
S. Maria delta Fieta, 223
S. Maria della Vita, 186
S. Mammolo, 16, 227
S. Petronio, 172 sqg.
S. Pietro, 238

Gates :
S. Donato, 260
Galliera, no

Piazzas :
Maggiore (now Vittorio Eman-

uele), 198
del Nettuno, o del Gigante, 198,

249
deir Accademia (now Galvani),

19S

Palazzi :
Archiginnasio (now Communal

Library), 197
Pubblico, 200, 205, 250, 251
Poggi (now the University), 197

Porticoes :
Their possible origin, 1 7
Dei Banchi, 198
Delia Morte, 184, 198 '

Pavaglione, 197

Streets :
Clavatura, 183, 184, 186
delle Casse, 179
S. Donato (now Zamboni), 168
Lamme, 179
S. Lorenzo, 179
Maggiore (now Mazzini), 168,

184, 269
Mammolo (now d'Azeglio), 16,

237.
Toschi, 19
Urbana, 237, 260, 288, 315

Bologna (continued) : —
Giam, sculptor, 199
Music in Bologna, 169, 240
Scuole di Bologna, 16, 17, 197
Senate of Bologna, 115, 205
Students' life in Bologna, 15-19

Bonafede, Carolina, 168, 177

Borbone, Matteo, 231

Borgias, 284

Borromeo, Carlo, 197, Z04, 260

" Bread of Obedience," 69

Brunswick, Duchess of, her visit to
the studio of Elisabetta Sirani,
247

Buoncompagni. See Gregory XIII

Calandrino, Cardinal, no
Calcina Chapel, 221, 222, 242
Callixtus III, Pope, 106
Cantofoli, Ginevra, painter, pupil

of Elisabetta Sirani, 242
Canonization of S. Caterina, 137, 148
Carafia, Cardinal Legate, 251, 267
Carducci, i, 24, 132
Carracci, Lodovico, 200, 201, 209
Carracci, Annibale, 245
Casarini, cousin of the Sirani's

maid-servant, 260, 261, 264, 268
Castelguelfo, 296
Caterina, S., of Alexandria. In a

picture by Lavinia Fontana, 222
Caterina, S., of Alexandria, church

of, at Ferrara, 157
Caterina of Bologna, 3, 1-164, 243
Caterina of Siena, 77
Catholic reaction, 4, 291
Cazzati, Maurizio, 231
Cellini, Benvenuto, 283
Certaldo, Paolo da, 30, 31
Certosa. See Bologna
" Chambre Ardente," 256
Charles V, Emperor, 168, 185, 200

INDEX

315

Cino da Pistoia, 95

Civic Patriotism, 234

Clare, S., Rule of, 49, 50, 65, 72

Clausura, Strict, 49

Clement VII, Pope, 137, 186

"Comforter" (Confortatore), office

of, 188
Constantinople, 79, 176
Convent of Corpus Domini (in

Bologna), 11, 114
Convent of Corpus Domini (in

Ferrara), 49, 73, 99, loi, 105
Correggio, 245
Cospi, Ferdinando, Marchese, 251,

25s
Creighton, Bishop, 182
Cupid, Elisabetta Sirani's painting

of, 247

Dalmasio, Lippi, 157, 289
Dante, 93, 250, 292
Delaborde, Henri, 289
Domenichino, 237, 288, 292
Donnini, Anna Maria, charwoman

to the Sirani, 262-70
Donzelli, 257

Doubts, Santa Caterina's, 84, 85
Duccio, 151
Dunstan, S., 129

Eclectic school, 201, 244, 289
"Elescoff," an electuary, 282
Elisabetta Sirani, 6, 201, 203, 229-

308
Elizabeth, Queen of England, 211
Enzio, 250

Este, d', Niccolo, 20, 22, 25 sqq. , 50
Este, d', Leonello, son of Niccolo,

27. 35
Este, d', Margherita, " Principessa,"
daughter of Niccolo, 22, 23 sqq.,
50, 7S, 107

Este, d', Ugo (Aldobrandini), son

of Niccolo, 27
Este, d', Isabella, 27, 35, 45
Este, d', Beatrice, 35
Este, d', Borso, 28, 135
Eugenius IV, Pope, 72
Eustace, English traveller, 289
Evelyn, English traveller, 108, 288

Fabri, Dr., 268, 272, 283, 286, 299

Faenza, 250, 302

Fantuzzi, Beato Fra Marco, 123

Felsina, 234

Ferrara, Court of, 24-45

Ferrara, described by Carducci, 24

Ferrara, described by Shorthouse,

25
Ferrara, disputes with Bologna for
possession of Santa Caterina, 13-

15
Ferrara horse-races, 250
Fiorentino Pietro, architect, 269/
Florence, 172, 201, 233 /

Fontana. See Layinia and P^spero
Fontana, Domenico, employed by

Sixtus V, 211
Fontana, Veronica, pupil of Elisa-
betta Sirani, 242 ,
Forni, Lucretia, pupil of Elisabetta

Sirani, 242
Francesca, S. di Romana, 70
Francesco, S. d' Assisi, 94, 115
Francesco, S. di Paolo, 213, 214
Franchi, Veronica, pupil of Elisa-
betta Sirani, 242
Francia, Francesco, 179, 289
Francis I, King of France, 213
Franciscan rule, 48
Free-will, Santa Caterina's concep-
tion of, 83, 84

Galen, 272, 281

3i6 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA^

Gallerati, Dr., 249, 253, 254, 257,
262, 265, 268, 272, 279, 282, 283,
284
Galleries : —

Bologna, 155, 213, 215, 216, 248,
290, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300,
301, 302, 304
Florence (UfEzi), 171, 193, 224,

293

Milan (Brera), 242

Rome (Borghese), 303

Rome (Capitol), 304

Venice, 155
Ghislieri, Ettore, Count, 239
Gigliola da Carrara, wife of Niccolo

III, d' Este, 22
Giovio, 184

Gonfalonier of Justice, 234, 25 1
Gonzaga, Eleonora, Empress, 252
Gozzadini, family, 209, 217, 218,

219
Gozzini, 293
Grassetti, Padre, 15, 60, 106, 108,

109, r6i
Grassi, family, 171
Gregory XIII, Pope, 184, 204, 210
Grillo, Don Angelo, 210
Grissante, architect, 198
Gualandi, Michael Angelo, 168,

178, 275
Gualandi, Secretary, 257
Guercino, 234, 291, 292, 304
Guerino, 34

Guido Reni. See Reni, Guido
Guidotti, Saulo, senator, 229
Guinicelli, Guido, 93

Hospital (Ospedale della Morte),
183, 184, 186, 189, 253, 266, 282

Illuminata, Sister (Bembo), 14, 18,
64, 67, 71, 119, 132, 141, 144,
148, 156

Ignatius Loyola, 291
Imola, 20

Imola, Innocenzo da, 195
Innocent IX, Pope, 212
Intercessions, S. Caterina's, 73-7,
80, 81

Japanese Ambassadors, 204
Joseph, St., Bowl of, 70, 71
Joseph and wife of Potiphar, bas-
relief by Properzia, 175
Julius III, Pope, 195

Kingsley, Charles, on Monks of
Thebaid, 42

Lambertazzi, Bolognese family, 250
Lanteri, Camilla, pupil of Elisa-

betta Sirani, 242
Laurence, St., 129
Laureti, Tommaso, architect, 198
Lavinia Fontana, 5, 6, 193-225,

242, 246
Lemery's Farmacopea Universale,

279
Lemmi, Niccol6, 7
Leonarda, Abbess, 102
Leonello. See Este
Leonora, Sister (Poggi), 144
Leopardi, family, 302
Life school, 239
Liverati, painter, 275
Lombardy, 245

Louis XI, King of France, 213
Louise de Savoie, Duchesse d'An-

goul^me, 213
Lucia, Sister (Codagnelli), 117, 1 18
Lucia, Sister (Mascheroni), 46, 47,

48, 65, 100, 156
Lucia Tolomelli, 257-87, 299
Ludovico, Master, barber of Spe-

dale della Morte, 283

INDEX

317

Maddalena, Rosa, Sister, 126
Maduzzi, Cristoforo, 204
Malatesta, Sigismundo, 26
Malatesta, Pandolfo, 40
Malatesta, Parisina. See Parisina
Milatesta Roberto. See Roberto
Malvasia, Anton Galeazzo, 178,

179, i8o
Malvasia, Canon, 237, 241, 246,

248, 272, 274, 284, 292, 293
Mamolini, family, 19
Manarese, Antonio, biographer of

Elisabetta Sirani, 247, 256, 275,

296
Mantegna, 233
Mantua, loi, 233
Marconi, i
Marini, 291
Martin V, Pope, 28
Massero, 196
Matessilani, Dr., 252, 266, 272,

282, 286
Medici, Leopoldo, Cardinal, 234,

269, 274
Mendicanti (Poor House), 260, 267,

269
Metastasio, 292
Mezzavacca, Battista, 103, 105
Milano, Francesco da, 179
Minghetti, Marco, 35
Minimes (Reformed Franciscans),

218
Miola, Vincenzo, painter, 179
Miracles, S. Caterina's, 117-23
Modena, horse-race at, 250
Molins, Venetian family, 1 57
Monari, Advocate of the Poor, 273
Montpellier, 280
Morina, Guido, 129
Museo Civico (Bologna), 171
Museo della Fabbrica (Bologna),

173. 174
Music. See Bologna

Neri, S. Filippo, 292, 299
Nicholas V, Pope, 1 10

Office, Daily, in the choir, 88, 89
Office of the Dead, 80
"Oil of the Grand Duke," 283
Ordelaffi, family of Forte, 102
Oretti, 195, 199, 203, 217, 221,
242, 273, 297

Padua, 21
Pagliardi, 259, 269
Panzacchi, Maria, pupil of Elisa-
betta Sirani, 242
Paolo, S., Fuori delle Mura (Rome),

206
Pareia, Bartolomeo, Professor of

Music, 169
Parisina, wife of Niccolo III, d'

Este, 26, 130
Parma, 20

Pepoli, Caterina, 243
Pepoli, Guido, 173
Pepoli, Romeo, 18
Pharmacy of S. Petronio, 282
Pharmacy of S. Paolo, 282
Pia de Carpi, Madonna Verde dei,

48,6s
Pia de Carpi, Abbess Taddea. See

Taddea
Picinardi, funeral oration of, 232-41,

244
Pinzochere, 25
Pius V, Pope, 203
Plessis-le-Tours, 213
Poisoning in seventeenth century,

256, 284, 28s
Pomet, Pierre, Paris druggist, 280
Porchetta, Festival, 249, 251, 259
Post-mortem examination, 253, 268,

283-6
Poverty, S. Caterina's love of, 96-9

3i8 THE WOMEN ARTISTS OF BOLOGNA

Processo of Caterina's canonization,

145
Processo di avvtlenamente (Elisa-

betta Sirani), 255 sqq.
Properzia de' Rossi, 167-86
Prospero Fontana, 195, 196, 199,

200, 201, 206, 209, 210

Public Prosecutor, 267

Quercia, Jacopo della, 173
Queen Elizabeth. See Elizabeth

Raimondi, Marc' Antonio, 170, 186
Rainieri, Jacopo, 169
Rangoni, Aldrovandino di, 28
Ranuzzi, Annibale, Count, 234,

263, 264
Raphael, 170, 245
Ratta, Monsignore, 209, 210
Reni, Guide, 7, 212, 229, 230, 234,

238, 239, 288, 290, 292, 301, 304
Reno, Canale di, 179, 184
Riali, 275

Riario, Carlo, Dr., 146
Ricci Corrado, 240
Ricciarda Saluzzo, 50
Richter, Jean-Paul, 297
Roberto Beato, 40, 50, 75
Rome, 185, 195, 206, 208, 209, 212,

218, 290
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 193
Rossi, Giovanni Martino, 168
Rossi, Girolamo, 168
Rossi, Properzia. S»e Properzia

Sabadino degli Arienti, 139, 140,

141
Sabina, S., Church of (Rome), 206
Salimbene, Fra, 94, 302
Saluzzo, Ricciarda. See Ricciarda
Samaritana, Sister, her death, 120-

123

Sarto, Andrea del, 202, 246
Savonarola, 44, 45
Sciroppo Acetoso, 278-9
Sedazzi Bernardina. See Bernardina
Servants in the seventeenth century,

258, 259

Sette Arme, S. Caterina's book : ,
its opening, 13, 32; its character-
istics, 37, 38 ; its object and first
draft, 68, 69

Sforza, Galeazzo Maria, 26

Sforza, Ginevra. See Bentivoglio

Siena, 54

Sirani family, 234, 238, 242, 257,
263

Sirani, Elisabetta. See Elisabetta

Sirani, Gian Andrea, 239-63

Sirani, Barbara, 240-65

Sirani, Giacoma, 249, 297

Sirani, Margherita, 252-62

Sixtus V, Pope, 211

Stark, Mrs., 289

Symonds, Addington, 178

Taddea, Abbess, 66, 88, 99, 100

Tebaldello, 250

Teresa, S., 37, 38, 292

Terzina, 113, 114

Teste, Fulvio, 229

Third Order of Franciscans in

Bologna, loi \

Thomas, St. , of Canterbury, 59, 60
Tiarini, 292
Titian, 201, 245
Toffana, La, 284
Torrone, Prison, 268, 269
Torrone, Auditor of, 267, 269, 272
Torrone, Sub-Auditor of, 268
Torture, 272
Tosignano, Giovanni da, Bishop

of Ferrara, 74
Tower of the Lions, Ferrara, 28

INDEX

319

Triaca ("Venice Treacle"), 279,

280, 281
Tribolo, 175
Trombetti, i

Uffizi. Sei Galleries

Uffizio della difesa dei Poveri, 271

Vasari, 169, 170, 171, 177, 178,

182, i8s
Veil, manner of wearing, 116
Venice, 201, 245, 280; and see

Galleries
Verme, Luigi dal, Mercenary, 78
Vesuvius, in pasteboard, 251
Vignola, Barozzi da, 198
Vigri family ; pedigree, 14
Vigri Benvenuta (de' Mamolini),

19. 20, 73, H4, 133
Vigri Caterina. See Caterina
Vigri Giovanni, 15-24, 41

Vincent, St., 129

Vincenzio, Antonio, architect, 172

Vinidani, Jacopo dei, teacher in

Bologna, 17
Violetta of S. Caterina, 127
Viridario, 169
Visconti, Filippo Maria, 78
Visions of S. Caterina, S9-64, 90,

91, 105, 106, 162
Vita Nuova of Dante, 94, 95
Vizzani, Pompeo, 209, 210

Wages of servants in twelfth cen-
tury, 258, 259
Whitesmith, 275
Women's education, 30
Women, learned, I, 2, 31

Zanichelli, Lorenzo, 273
Zappis, de, 207, 208

PLYMOUTH

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD.

PRINTERS

A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

PUBLISHED BY METHUEN

AND COMPANY: LONDON

36 ESSEX STREET

CONTENTS

PAGE

General Literature, .

2-H

• Little Library,

Ancient Cities,

— Little Quarto Shakespeare,

Antiquary's Books,

Miniature Library,

Arden Shakespeare,

New Historical Series,

Beginner's Books, .

NewT Library of Medicine, .

Business Books, .

New Library of Music, .

Byzantine Texts, .

Oxford Biographies,

Churchman's Bible,

Romanfio History,

Churchman's Library, .,

School Examination Series,

Classical Translations^

School Histories, .

Classics of Art,

Simplified French Texts, .

Commercial Series,

Simplified German Texts, .

Connoisseur's Library,

Six Ages of European History

, 36

Handbooks of English Churc

Standard Library, ,

History,

Textbooks of Science, .

Illustrated Pocket Library o

Textbooks of Technology, .

Plain and Coloured Books

Handbooks of Theology,

Junior Examination Series,

AVestminster Commentaries,

Junior School-Books, .

Leaders of Religion,

Library of Devotion,

Fiction,

37-45

Little Books oft Art, .

Books for Boys and Girls,

Little Galleries,

Novels of Alexandre Dumas,

Little Guidesi .

Methuen's Sixpenny Books,

SEPTEMBER 1909

A CATALOGUE OF

Messrs. Methuen's

PUBLICATIONS

An asterisk denotes

In this Catalogue the order is according to authors,
that the book is in the press. , „ i • j

Colonial Editions are published of all Messrs. Methuen s Novels issued
at a price above as. 6d., and similar editions are published of some worksof
General Literature. Colonial editions are only for circulation in the British
Colonies and India.

All books marked net are not subject to discount, and cannot be bought
at less than the published price. Books not marked net are subject to the
discount which the bookseller allows.

Messrs. Methuen's books are kept in stock by all good booksellers. If
there is any difficulty in seeing copies, Messrs. Methuen will be very glad to
have early information, and specimen copies of any books will be sent on
receipt of the published price plus postage for net books, and of the published
price for ordinary books.

I.F.L. represents Illustrated Pocket Library,

Part I. — General Literature

Abraham (Qeoree DO THE COMPLETE
MOUNTAINEER. With 75 Illustrations.
Saond Edition. Demyivo. -Lis. net.

Acat05(M. J.). See Junior School Books.

Addleshaw (Percy). SIR PHILIP
SIDNEY. With 12 Illustrations. Demy
Zvo. 10s. 6d. net.

Adeney (W. FO, M.A. SeeBennett(W. H.)

Ady (Cecilia M.). A HISTORY OF
MILAN UNDER THE SFORZA. With
20 Illustratious and a Map. Demy Svo.
los. 6d. net.

Aeschylus. See Classical Translations.

Ainsworth (W. Harrison). See I. P. L.

Aldis (Janet). THE QUEEN OF
LETTER WRITERS, Marquise de
S6vign6, Dame de Bourbilly, 1626-96.
With 18 Illustrations. Second Edition.
Demy Zvo. I'is. 6d. net.

Alexander (William), D.D., Archbishop
of Armagh. THOUGHTS AND
COUNSELS OF MANY YEARS.
Detny %6tno, ^s. 6d.

Aiken (Henry). See I.P.L.

Allen (Charles C). See Textbooks of
Technology.

Allen (L. Jessie). See Little Books on Art.

Allen (J. Romilly), F.S.A. See Antiquary's
Books.

Almack (B.), F.S.A. See Little Books on
Art.

Amherst (Lady). A SKETCH OF
EGYPTIAN HISTORY FROM THE
EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRE-
SENT DAY. With many Illustrations
and Maps. A New and Chetcper Issue
Dewiy Zvo. is. 6d. net.

Anderson (jP. M.l. THE STORY OF THE
BRITISH EMPIRE FOR CHtLDREN.
With ^ inustrations. Cr. ivo. :m.

Anderson (J. Q.), B.A., NOUVELLE
GRAMMAIRE FRANCAISE, A. l'osage
DES ficoLKS Anglaises. Crown Sna. 2j.

EXERCICES DE GRAMMAIRE FRAN-
CAISE. Cr. 8z/o. ts. 6d.

Andrewes (Bishop). PRECES PRI-
VATAE. Translated and edited, with
Notes, by F- E. Brightman. M.A., of
Pusey House, Oxford. Cr. Bvo. ' 6s.
See also Library of Devotion.

'Anglo- Australian.' AFTER-GLOW ME-
MORIES. Cr. Sot. 6s.

Anon. THE BUDGET, THE LAND
AND THE PEOPLE. Second Edition.
Crown 8z/i7. 6d. net.

HEALTH, WEALTH, AND WISDOM.
Crown Bvo. IS. net.

THE WESTMINSTER PROBLEMS
BOOK. Prose and Verse. Compiled from
The Saturday Westminster Gazette Com-
petitions, 1904-1907. Cr. Bvo. 3J. 6d. net.

VENICE AND HER TREASURES. With
many Illustrations. Round comers. Fcap.
Bvo. 5f. net.

Aristotle. THE ETHICS OF. Edited,
with an Introduction and Notes by John
BUKNET, M. A., Cheaperissue. Demy Bvo.
10s. 6d. net.

Asman (H. N.), M.A., Ii.D. See Junior
School Books.

Atkins (H. Q.). See Oxford Biographies.

Atkinson (C. M.). JEREMY BENTHAM.
Demy Bvo. $s. net.

Atkinson (C. T.), M.A., Fellow of Exeter
College, Oxford, sometime Demy of Mag-
dalen College. A HISTORY OF GER-
MANY, from 1713 to 1815. With 35 Maps
and Plans Demy Bvo. 15;. net.

General Literature

Atkinson (T. D.). ENGLISH ARCHI-
TECTURE. With ig6 Illustrations.
Pcap, ZvOm 3A 6<^. net.

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN
ENGLISH _ ARCHITECTURE. With
265 Illustrations. Second Edition. Fcap.
ivo. 3J. (id. net.

Atteridge (A. H.)- NAPOLEON'S
BROTHERS. With 24 Illustrations.
Demy %vo. i8j. net.

Auden(T.),.M.A., F.S.A. See Ancient Cities.

Aurelius (Marcus). WORDS OF THE
ANCIENT WISE. Thoughts from Epic-
tetus and Marcus Aurelius. Edited by
W. H. D. Rouse, M.A., Litt. D. Fcm-f.
Zvo. 3J. td. net.

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